From dissent to cohesion: Immigration policy shift and intra-party dynamics in the Danish Social Democratic Party

Abstract

The high saliency of immigration presented social democratic parties with a strategic quandary on reconciling different values and expectations. Danish Social Democratic Party stood out as it shifted to restrictive policies while achieving intra-party cohesion and avoiding major internal strifes. This article investigates the factors behind Social Democrat immigration shift and intra-party cohesion, focusing on a timeframe between 2005 and 2019 by combining an analysis of Social Democrat immigration policies with insights from 12 interviews with party elites. Comparing varying strategies, ideological inclinations, and support, I explore the intra-party actors’ perceptions, constraining and permissive influences of intra-party dynamics, development and reconstruction of new ideological frameworks and factional alignment. Findings highlight the importance of intra-party dynamics on shifting policies in immigration for social democratic parties, providing further insights on how the Social Democrat party elite navigated the policy shift while ensuring intra-party cohesion from electoral, ideological and organisational perspectives.