Polish Political Science Review. Polski Przegląd Politologiczny 7 (1)/2019 Niklas Bolin Nicholas Aylott Mid Sweden University Södertörn University RIGHT-WING POPULIST PARTY LEADERSHIP IN SWEDEN: ONE OF A KIND OR ONE OF THE CROWD? DOI: 10.2478/ppsr-2019-0002 Authors Niklas Bolin is Associate Professor of Political Science, Mid Sweden University, Sundsvall. His research interests include elections, political parties and party systems with a special focus on new parties. Previously he has published in journals including Journal of Elections, Public Opinion and Parties, Party Politics, West European Politics and Scandinavian Political Studies. ORCID no. 0000–0002–2597–363X e-mail:
[email protected] Nicholas Aylott is Associate Professor of Political Science at Södertörn University, Stockholm. His main fi eld is comparative politics, with a thematic focus on political parties. He has written and co-written books on the impact of European integration on party strategy and organization, in- cluding Political Parties in Multi-Level Polities: Th e Nordic Countries Compared (Palgrave, 2013), and has had his research published in various journals. ORCID no. 0000–0001–9346–2324 e-mail:
[email protected] Abstract Are right-wing populist parties fundamentally diff erent from other types? Th is article explores one aspect of what we call the exceptionalist thesis. Th e thesis could be applied to a wide range of party characteristics, but here we focus on leadership. In this context, our case study is of the Sweden Democrats (SD). First, we examine how SD selects its leader. Second, we assess how lead- ership works in practice in SD, especially regarding party management.