I teach undergraduate courses including quantitative methods and globalization. I am also open to supervising both master's and bachelor's level projects, particularly those focused on political behavior and Central and Eastern Europe.

My research is within the fields of political science and political sociology, with a particular focus on political behavior and Central and Eastern Europe. My dissertation project examines how historical institutions affect contemporary political behavior, focusing on how experiences from autocracies shape political behavior after democratization, primarily using quantitative methods.

In addition to my dissertation, I have researched the rise of the Sweden Democrats, especially within the framework of urban and rural polarization. I have also conducted research on inter-municipal cooperation and environmental and energy policy.

 

Research interests

Comparative politics, political economy, environmental politics, quantitative methods, and political sociology with a particular interest for historical political economy.

A selection from Stockholm University publication database

• Spirited away: Access to alcohol and support for the populist radical right

  2024. Zeth Isaksson. Electoral Studies 91

  Article

  Does the availability of alcohol influence support for radical right-wing parties, and if so, why? Drawing parallels to the UK, where pub closures led to increased support for UKIP, this study investigates similar trends observed in Sweden. Utilizing a novel dataset of over 50,000 alcohol-serving permits and electoral data from 2002 to 2018, the study finds that a reduction in permits is associated with a 3.7% increase in support for the Sweden Democrats (SD). To explain this, it is argued that bar closures politicize alcohol regulation and serve as a symbolic issue linked to the populist radical right. Survey data from over 20,000 respondents reveal that individuals in municipalities with a decreasing number of permits are more likely to support alcohol deregulation policies, and these voters become more likely to support SD. These findings underscore how perceptions of government overregulation drive support for radical right-wing parties.

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• Behind the wall: the lack of interaction between east and west and the rise of the radical right

  2024. Zeth Isaksson. Acta Politica

  Article

  What explains the rise of radical right-wing parties in post-socialist Europe? Previous research attributes this phenomenon to the legacies of socialism, emphasizing the macro-socialization processes in education and civil society. This study introduces a novel perspective by highlighting the significance of limited interaction with the non-socialist states, proposing that such interactions could have facilitated micro-socialization processes that counteracted the regime’s indoctrination efforts. By analyzing the effect of cross-border traffic agreements between East and West Germany, it is found that areas with increased Western contact during the socialist era exhibit significantly less support for the radical right thirty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Moreover, employing entropy balancing to adjust for socioeconomic differences in the totalitarian period, this research demonstrates that individuals from these areas are half as likely to support the Alternative for Germany today, compared to a reweighted control group. This research offers a novel mechanism detailing how Western interactions could challenge entrenched socialist legacies, contributing significantly to the discourse on political socialization and the dynamics of political culture in post-socialist Europe. 

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• Political expectations and electoral responses to wind farm development in Sweden

  2024. Zeth Isaksson, Simon Gren. Energy Policy 186

  Article

  Wind energy expansion has influenced electoral behavior by decreasing support for incumbents, primarily explained by not-in-my-backyard (NIMBY) arguments. However, how does the establishment of wind farms shape electoral behavior when municipal politicians can veto such establishments? Analyzing Sweden, this study shows that voters respond not only by retrospectively evaluating past constructions but also by evaluating parties differently based on their expectations. Our results indicate that parties more likely to approve turbine constructions are punished more than those less expected to do so. Additionally, we find no evidence that the construction of wind turbines influences support for either Green or radical right-wing parties. In conclusion, this study show that the political repercussions of wind farm expansion are multifaceted, influenced by a combination of past actions, future expectations, and the ideological stances of political parties.

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• The political effects of rural school closures-Evidence from Sweden

  2023. Zeth Isaksson. Journal of Rural Studies 100

  Article

  In times of economic hardship, local governments often resort to school closures. These are often directed towards struggling rural communities, already experiencing substantial depopulation. The affected communities often react with fierce protests against responsible politicians. However, the political effects of school closures have mostly been overlooked in previous research. By using a novel geocoded dataset on all rural school closures in Sweden between 2013 and 2020, this study explores their political ramifications. The results show that school closures decrease the trust in municipal politicians and have negative effects on the support for the incumbent, an effect that is most pronounced for left-leaning parties. This study contributes to the literature on rural school closures and welfare retrenchments and expands previous research on social decommissioning in rural areas to include educational policies.

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Show all publications by Zeth Isaksson at Stockholm University