Tro och ideologi : En kvalitativ jamforande studie av tre stycken kristdemokratiska partiprogram

This thesis analyzes the Swedish Christian Democratic Party's development where the purpose is to narrowly examine how the party’s ideological development has altered since its advent in 1964 until today. The research has used a comparative descriptive idea analysis of three party programs by the party in 1964, 1984 and 2015. The analysis consists of two steps: summary of the party programmes and the examination with five ideological parameters. The first part of the analysis treats the summarization of the party programmes from the selected years and categorizes: the individual, family, school, civil society, the task of politics and Sweden's role in the world. The second part provides the research with the analysis of the party programmes through five ideological parameters with the extremes: idealism-materialism, secular-religious, individualistic-holistic, consensus-conflict and progressive-moderate. The results of the analysis proves that the Swedish Christian Democratic Party ideological development is characterized by both stability and inconsistency. The party has continued their stability in an idealistic manner, with focus on consensus and moderate political stance. The alteration is significant in the party’s shift from a evident religious imprint, to a party distinguished by secularization of Christian values and an increase in the focus regarding individual rights. The thesis’ result reveals how the party’s substantial basis remains, but at the same time trying to maintain its relevance by change and by adapting strategically to its environment.