That makes more sense. What do you most heavily attribute these problems to? I would presume that Sweden would be more susceptible to the right-leaning immigration rhetoric because they have accommodated more immigrants and refugees historically (correct?). However, I did some research on Denmark a few years ago and found similar political trends of anti-immigration platforms gaining footing in parliament. I'm guessing it's just occurring to a lesser degree?
All the things I mentioned? That would require making a smaller essay (though I have been talking a lot about it in the Europe/Scandinavia/Eurabia threads). But as for immigration; Yes, Sweden has taken in far more muslim immigrants Denmark, but right-wing populism is something that thrives much more in Denmark than Sweden.
A quick rundown:
Denmark has since 2004 been very hard on immigration (from muslim countries), ever since the danish peoples party became part of government.
http://www.right-world.net/en/news/975
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-12366676
In 2004 the danish peoples party was a small stigmatised party who typically only got votes from uneducated racists (much like what you see with the Sweden democrats today). Here is their 2007 election video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBSoMiG94Es (go to 1:40 for the scaremongering).
But since ~2010 they have become a mainstream established party because A: They're strong supporters of the welfare state, B: Very nationalistic, C: Very EU-skeptic and D: Do not like muslims. And voila! Those are the 4 values that your average dane can get behind. Here is their 2012 election video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGAH1wGNqJM (go to 1:40 again to see their new attitude)
Now compare that to the 2007 election video. As you can see they have become a lot more moderate (in their public opinions), though they still make cheesy and shitty election ads.
They became extremely popular this year because of their EU-skepticism. Their candidate (a left leaning Nigel Farage) took in almost half a million personal votes (which is unprecedented in danish history).
http://cphpost.dk/news/a-fifth-of-all-votes-were-for-messerschmidt.9678.html
Recent polls now have the party as the biggest party in Denmark.
So now in 2015 Denmark has become even more hostile towards muslim immigrants. Even the left leaning political parties have tightened immigration. It has begone to get out of hand imo.
http://www.thelocal.dk/20140728/make-it-harder-for-muslims-to-come-to-denmark-venstre
http://www.thelocal.dk/20140805/denmark-no-entry-for-muslims
And to make it short. What you see now in Sweden is very resembling to what was happening in Denmark 10 years ago (right wing parties slowly on the rise, but still stigmatised etc.). Though Denmark has always been far more nationalistic than Sweden. These comics sums it up a bit.
Thanks man! I really do appreciate it. I was really surprised RS only had Swedish. I was torn between Danish and Russian for my next language to learn, but since performing worse than expected on my recent placement test, I figured it might actually be most prudent to travel to Denmark while I'm young instead of waiting until I've established my career (and I only wanted to learn Russian for my own private reading). I'd even planned on taking advantage of some of the nifty free courses over there that they offer to immigrants and tourists, but I would hate to short-change my time there by doing that.
Not a lot of people are looking to learn danish unless they intend on moving here. Swedish is probably the most well-known out of the scandinavian nations, so I figure that is why.
The free danish courses over here I think is quite good. You will also be able to meet other recent immigrants, at least the people I know who did it seems to have been happy about it.
Good luck with it all. Some useful websites perhaps:
https://www.workindenmark.dk/
http://studyindenmark.dk/
Here's a blog from an american women who lives here (I find some of it quite funny and true):
http://www.howtoliveindenmark.com/
If you have any questions, feel free to PM me.