Paper to be presented at the XXVI Convegno SISP, Workshop 6: 12, Populizmo e partecipazione politica (II) 1 National Myth-Making and Populist Mobilization in Scandinavia Work in progress, second draft - please do not quote without the authors’ permission This paper examines how three nationalist parties (the Sweden Democrats (SD) in Sweden, the Danish People’s Party (DPP) in Denmark and the Progress Party (PP) in Norway) invokes, and radicalizes claims for national cohesion, centred on the experiences of the post-war Social Democratic traditions in these countries. We thus ask if and how these three nationalist-populist parties use national myths in the mobilization of voters. Our focus on political myths corresponds to how political actors give significance to certain narratives of the past. Political myths do not merely tell and re-tell narratives; ultimately they enjoy a moralizing capacity and represent a creative force to discursively construct the foundation of e.g. national communities. By national myths we refer to particular narratives that aim to glue a distinct people to a particular national community, imagined or real, territorial or not. The analysis shows how political myths of national exclusiveness and myths of the common man are invoked by these parties to radicalize claims for national cohesion. Our material is based on primary sources, such as party manifestos and autobiographies. This perspective brings a novelty to the study of anti-immigrant parties in two distinct ways. First, we highlight the need of context-sensitivity; i. e expanding beyond ideas that the ’radical right’ parties succeed in the electoral competition, combining neo-liberal politics on economic matters and authoritarian views on e.g. immigration, integration, family, law and order. Considering the particular socio-political environment in the Scandinavian countries, these parties emphasize myths of the universal welfare state, combining social reforms with cultural conformism. Second, our analysis emphasizes how political actors give significance to certain narratives of the past by means of national myth-making to perform and inject a sense of belonging to the nation. In the attempts to gain credibility in the overall political competition of the votes, it is essential for these parties to cling on to particular narratives of the (national) past that appear common-sensical, rather than extremist. In terms of the re-appropriation of the Social Democratic heritage, the SD stands out as the party most explicitly linking myths of national belonging to the ’old’ Social Democracy. At the other extreme, the PP is more closely linked to a neo-liberal, anti-statist view. In between, the DPP invokes myths of national exclusiveness, shaped by extensive welfare arrangements, but the Social Democratic heritage is less significant, compared to e.g. the SD. Our results show that national myth-making might take different paths, though here united in ideas of welfare-chauvinism and cultural conformism. If there is a ‘new’ Scandinavian party-family in the making, references to national myths that separate between decent workers and the indecent others are essential to recognize in this regard. By way of conclusion, our analysis demonstrates that processes of national myth-making show different faces also in socio-economically similar countries. We thereby suggest that scholarly research in the field of nationalist-populist parties need to take full account of the historical legacy of individual parties, also in relation to the mainstream domestic political culture. Anders Hellström, Malmö University, anders.hellstrom@mah.se Magnus Wennerhag, Södertörn University Magnus.wennerhag@sh.se