Publications

Monographs

Hagevi, Magnus, Blombäck, Sofie, Demker, Marie, Hinnfors, Jonas och Loxbo, Karl (2022). Party Realignment in Western Europe. Electoral Drivers and Global Constraints. Edward Elgar, 288 pp. ISBN: 9781800884724

Peer-Reviewed articles

Loxbo, Karl  (2024).’ Complexity meets flexibility: unintended differentiation in EU public procurement’, Journal of European Public Policy (with Brigitte Pircher). https://doi.org/10.1080/13501763.2024.2427196

Loxbo, Karl (2024). ‘How the radical right reshapes public opinion: the Sweden Democrats’ local mobilisation, 2002–2020’, West European Politics.  https://doi.org/10.1080/01402382.2024.2396775

Loxbo, Karl (2024). ‘Electoral Competition between Social Democracy and the Populist Radical Right: How Welfare Regimes Shape Electoral Outcomes’, Political Studies 72(3), 1050–1070.https://doi.org/10.1177/00323217231173399

Farjam, Mike and Karl Loxbo (2023).' Social Conformity or attitude persistence? The bandwagon effect and the spiral of silence in a polarized context', Journal of Elections, Public Opinion and Parties 34(3): 531-551.https://doi.org/10.1080/17457289.2023.2189730

Loxbo, Karl (2022). 'The varying logics for supporting populist right-wing welfare politics in West European welfare regimes', European Political Science Review 14: 171–187.  https://doi.org/10.1017/S175577392200011X

Loxbo, Karl (2021). The decline of Western European social democracy: Exploring the transformed link between welfare state generosity and the electoral strength of social democratic parties, 1975–2014. Party Politics 27(3): 430–441. https://doi.org/10.1177/1354068819861339 (with Hinnfors, J, Hagevi, M, Demker, M, and Blombäck, S).

Loxbo, Karl (2020). 'Compliance with EU law in times of disintegration: exploring changes in transposition and enforcement in the EU member states between 1997-2016', Journal of Common Market Studies, 58(5): 1270-1287 (with Brigitte Pircher).  https://doi.org/10.1111/jcms.13030

Loxbo, Karl (2018). 'Ethnic diversity, out-group contacts and social trust in a high-trust society',  Acta Sociologica, 61(2): 182–201. https://doi.org/10.1177/0001699317721615

Loxbo, Karl (2017). 'Parliamentary opposition on the wane? The Case of Sweden, 1970–2014', Government and Opposition, 52(4): 587–613 (with Mats Sjölin). https://doi.org/10.1017/gov.2015.39

Loxbo, Karl (2016). ‘Party Organizational Development and the Electoral Performance of the Radical Right: Exploring the Role of Local Candidates in the Breakthrough Elections of the Sweden Democrats 2002-2014’, Journal of Elections, Public Opinion, and Parties, 26 (2): 170–190 (with Niklas Bolin). https://doi.org/10.1080/17457289.2016.1145685

Loxbo, Karl (2015). ‘Sverigedemokraterna: Framgångsrikt enfrågefokus’, Statsvetenskaplig tidskrift, 117(2), 169–187. https://journals.lub.lu.se/st/article/view/12939

Loxbo, Karl (2014). 'Voters’ perceptions of policy convergence and the short-term opportunities of anti-immigrant parties: Examples from Sweden', Scandinavian Political Studies 37(3): 239–262. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9477.12025

Loxbo, Karl (2014). ‘Europeisering och kartellisering av nationella partisystem? Förändrade konfliktlinjer mellan partierna i riksdagens EU-nämnd mellan 1995 och 2012’, Statsvetenskaplig tidskrift 116(1): 123–148. https://journals.lub.lu.se/st/article/view/9828

Loxbo, Karl (2014). ’Hög generell tillit och låg tolerans mot främlingar?’, SurveyJournalen, 1(2): 68-85. https://doi.org/10.15626/sj.2014201

Loxbo, Karl (2013). 'The Fate of Intra-Party Democracy. Leadership Autonomy and Activist Influence in the Mass Party and the Cartel Party', Party Politics, 19(4): 537–554. https://doi.org/10.1177/135406881140758

Loxbo, Karl (2012). ‘School and the Promotion of Generalised Trust: Experiences from Sicily’, Journal of Trust Research 2(2): 171–201 (with Carina Gunnarson). https://doi.org/10.1080/21515581.2012.708506

Loxbo, Karl (2012). 'Anti-immigrant parties, local presence and electoral success. Local Government Studies', 38 (6): 817-839 (with Gissur Erlingsson and Richard Öhrvall). https://doi.org/10.1080/03003930.2012.740411

Loxbo, Karl (2011). 'Vigilance against corruption and New Public Management', Scandinavian Journal of Public Administration, 14 (3-4): 37–58. https://doi.org/10.58235/sjpa.v14i3/4.16285

Loxbo, Karl (2010). ‘The Impact of the Radical Right. Lessons from the Local Level in Sweden 2002-2006’, Scandinavian Political Studies 33 (3): 295-315. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9477.2010.00252.x

Loxbo, Karl (2010). ‘Bakom lyckta dörrar. Beslutsprocessen bakom den svenska pensionsreformen 1991-1998’, Statsvetenskaplig tidskrift 111(3): 25–50. https://journals.lub.lu.se/st/article/view/8168/7273

Loxbo, Karl (2010). ’ Finlands sätt bör bli Sveriges’, Kommunalvetenskaplig Tidskrift 1: 90-96 (with Erik Wångmar). ISSN 0356-3669

Loxbo, Karl (2009). 'Har den interna demokratin i politiska partier försämrats över tid?’ Sociologisk forskning, 46 (4), 7–28. https://doi.org/10.37062/sf.46.19218

Loxbo, Karl (2008). ’ Sverigedemokraterna i fullmäktige: Påverkas koalitioner och politik i kommunerna?’, Kommunal ekonomi och politik, 12(4): 7-32. http://hdl.handle.net/2077/20737

Books

Hagevi, Magnus, Blombäck, Sofie, Hinnfors, Jonas, Demker, Marie, Loxbo, Karl (fortcoming, July 2022). Party Realignment in Western Europe. Electoral drivers and Global Constraints. London: Edward Elgar Publishing. ISBN: 9781800884724.

Loxbo, Karl (2007). Bakom socialdemokraternas beslut. En studie av den politiska förändringens dilemman – från 1950-talets ATP-strid till 1990-talets pensionsuppgörelse (avhandling). Växjö: Växjö university press. ISBN 9789176365359

Book chapters

Loxbo, Karl (2019). Radikala högerpopulistiska partier. In Hagevi, Magnus (ed) (2019). Partier och partisystem. Andra upplagan. Lund: Studentlitteratur, pp. 87-115.

Loxbo, Karl (2018). ‘Cartelisation and Europeanisation? In Enroth Henrik and Hagevi, Magnus (eds). Cartelisation, Convergence or Increasing Similarities?: Lessons from Parties in Parliament. ECPR/Rowman & Littlefield, pp. 97–118.

Loxbo, Karl (2018). ‘Are the Predictions of the Cartel Party Thesis Supported in the Swedish Case?, in Enroth Henrik and Hagevi, Magnus (eds). Cartelisation, Convergence or Increasing Similarities?: Lessons from Parties in Parliament. ECPR/Rowman & Littlefield, pp. 43–69 (with Margnus Hagevi).

Loxbo, Karl (2015). ‘Partierna och demokratin efter medlemsnedgången’, i SOU 2015: 96. Låt fler forma framtiden. Forskarantologi. Stockholm: Wolters Kluwe, pp. 13–64  (with Magnus Hagevi).

Loxbo, Karl (2015). ‘Utmaningen från radikala högerpopulistpartier’. in Hagevi, Magnus (ed). §§§§ Lund: Studentlitteratur, pp. 133-149.

Loxbo, Karl (2012). ‘Att rösta mot systemet’. i Hagevi, Magnus (red.). Den svenska väljaren. Surveyinstitutet Volym 2, s. 165-181. Umeå: Boréa.

 

A selection from Stockholm University publication database

• Electoral Competition between Social Democracy and the Populist Radical Right: How Welfare Regimes Shape Electoral Outcomes

  2024. Karl Loxbo. Political Studies 72 (3), 1050-1070

  Article

  This study examines how the growing competition over immigration and welfare between social democratic parties and populist radical right parties impacts electoral outcomes. The study argues that the historical legacies of the social democratic and conservative welfare regimes influence how voters respond to this competitive struggle. The findings support this argument. In the social democratic regime, populist radical right parties gain more support when they compete over welfare, although Nordic social democratic parties can mitigate this trend by appearing tough on immigration. However, populist radical right parties’ emphasis on welfare is the main source of electoral mobilization, particularly among voters with anti-immigration sentiments. In the conservative regime, the competitive dynamic is less connected to immigration, and populist radical right parties’ welfare discourse appeals primarily to economically vulnerable voters, while social democratic parties lose votes by taking a strict stance on immigration. These results have important implications and suggest that welfare regimes shape voting behaviour differently today than in previous eras.

  Read more about Electoral Competition between Social Democracy and the Populist Radical Right

• Social conformity or attitude persistence? The bandwagon effect and the spiral of silence in a polarized context

  2024. Mike Farjam, Karl Loxbo. Journal of Elections, Public Opinion, and Parties 34 (3), 531-551

  Article

  This study examines whether and to what extent the bandwagon effect and the spiral of silence impact opinion formation in a polarized context, where individuals tend to be persistent in their policy attitudes. Focusing on contentious policy issues at the heart of the culture war in American politics, our aim is to study the relative importance of attitude persistence and social conformity in the opinion-formation process, and how these responses depend on individuals' ideological commitments. We conducted an experimental study of US citizens, where participants donated money to organizations advocating opposed positions on seven of the most contentious issues in American politics. Utilizing the presentation of opinion polls as a treatment, the findings are threefold. First, we show that polls cause ideologically moderate people to abandon the minority and conform to the majority opinion regardless of the issue at stake. By contrast, we show that attitude persistence prevails among ideologically extreme people. Second, we demonstrate that seeing polls generally demobilizes people with minority views. Third, we find that opinion-conversion and demobilization jointly undermine minority opinions, while only a small minority of extremists repels both mechanisms. These findings have important implications for research on opinion formation in today's polarized political landscape.

  Read more about Social conformity or attitude persistence? The bandwagon effect and the spiral of silence in a polarized context

• Party Realignment in Western Europe: Electoral Drivers and Global Constraints

  2022. Magnus Hagevi (et al.).

  Book

  Identifying a crisis for representative democracy in Western European party systems, this essential book studies the widening gap between political parties’ ideological economic Left–Right rhetoric. Combining in-depth theoretical analysis with empirical research, it addresses whether political party ideologies are converging or diverging, and whether these changes are initiated by the parties themselves, aligned with voter demand, or forced by economic globalization.

  Read more about Party Realignment in Western Europe

• The varying logics for supporting populist right-wing welfare politics in West European welfare regimes

  2022. Karl Loxbo. European Political Science Review 14 (2), 171-187

  Article

  Little is known about whether and under which conditions populist radical right parties' (PRRPs') nativist welfare politics matters to the voters. I address this gap in the research and test the argument that the electoral appeal of this electoral discourse varies among welfare regimes. The study compares the conservative and social-democratic welfare regimes and focuses on the vote choices of the two core constituencies of PRRPs - economically exposed and immigration-sceptic voters. The results show that these electorates support PRRPs' nativist welfare positions for very different reasons in the two welfare regimes. First, in the conservative regime, economically exposed citizens vote for PRRPs, the more they stress nativism and welfare expansion. By contrast, in the social-democratic regime this group of voters is more likely to support positions combining nativism and dismantled welfare benefits. Second, immigrant-sceptic voters in the social-democratic regime support PRRPs who pledge to preserve the welfare state, and increased migration considerably boosts the probability that they do so. By contrast, this group of voters in the conservative regime is more likely to support PRRPs who seek to partly dismantle the welfare state, and the inflow of immigrants is unrelated to these choices. These results have important implications and suggest that welfare regimes moderate public opinion differently in the current age of populism compared to previous eras.

  Read more about The varying logics for supporting populist right-wing welfare politics in West European welfare regimes

Show all publications by Karl Loxbo at Stockholm University