Getting ethnic questions on the agenda: Party formation as a strategy for social movements

The purpose of this article is twofold: firstly, to examine party formation as an option for social movements; secondly, to explore in more detail the reasons and conditions as to why a party with an explicit ethnic agenda and with an aim to represent various migrant communities emerged in the Swedish but not in the Dutch context. The article argues that this type of mobilization should be viewed as a strategy adopted by social movements rather than as a traditional party and as such should be related to the prevailing political opportunity structures. The Swedish context offers more favourable conditions for this type of mobilization than the Dutch, although structural arrangements and dominating cleavage lines influence the type of success this type of option has in the long run.