Ever since the electoral turmoil of the early seventies, Scandinavia has been a market for alternative models. And, indeed, the left‐right conflict dimension has fallen short of accounting for everything as evidenced by, for instance, the recent breakdown of the three‐party bourgeois coalition government in Sweden.This paper focuses on the conflict structure in Swedish politics, mainly the genesis of the center‐periphery dimension.Methodological ambiguity in diffusion studies of the center‐periphery conflict is illustrated through some empirical data. It is argued that the Green Wave should not be seen as a manifestation of an allegedly latent center‐periphery cleavage, nor be construed as a sign of major transitions in Swedish politics. Explanations are offered as to why the comparatively strong counter‐cultural movements (the free churches and the temperance movement) never managed to secure a party o