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Sweden's contradictory drug policy: a socio-legal study of the swedish zero tolerance approach

Banerup, Frida LU (2016) RÄSM02 20161
Department of Sociology of Law
Abstract
This master thesis is a socio-legal study which explores the Swedish drug policy and its discourses, more specifically how discourses within the political sphere affects the political discussion and the legal norms regarding drugs in Sweden. As methodological approach I have used a critical discourse analysis, created by Norman Fairclough, to analyze political documents, trying to find the most powerful discourse in Sweden and how it affects the legal norms. I have found that the discourse in Sweden is closed, resulting in that only one discourse, Zero Tolerance, is available within the political sphere and if politicians wishes to apply other discourses they will have to do so inside the most powerful discourse Zero Tolerance. Otherwise... (More)
This master thesis is a socio-legal study which explores the Swedish drug policy and its discourses, more specifically how discourses within the political sphere affects the political discussion and the legal norms regarding drugs in Sweden. As methodological approach I have used a critical discourse analysis, created by Norman Fairclough, to analyze political documents, trying to find the most powerful discourse in Sweden and how it affects the legal norms. I have found that the discourse in Sweden is closed, resulting in that only one discourse, Zero Tolerance, is available within the political sphere and if politicians wishes to apply other discourses they will have to do so inside the most powerful discourse Zero Tolerance. Otherwise they risk getting shut out from the political discussion. I have also found that politicians in Sweden are trying to change the discourse from inside, advocating a drug free society but also complementing this with methods from a different discourse, Harm Reduction. Further I have reached the conclusion that there is a gap between the legal and the social norms in Sweden, statistics shows that the use of drugs are increasing in the Swedish society whilst politicians and the legislation advocates a restrictive drug policy. If the gap between the two grows to big, the legal norms will be obliged to change in order to retains its legitimacy, that being said Sweden may be in the progress of changing their unique, criticised, repressive drug policy in the future. (Less)
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author
Banerup, Frida LU
supervisor
organization
course
RÄSM02 20161
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
keywords
legal, drugs, harm reduction, discourse, zero tolerance, norms, policy, Sweden
language
English
id
8875642
date added to LUP
2016-06-21 13:59:58
date last changed
2016-06-21 13:59:58
@misc{8875642,
  abstract     = {{This master thesis is a socio-legal study which explores the Swedish drug policy and its discourses, more specifically how discourses within the political sphere affects the political discussion and the legal norms regarding drugs in Sweden. As methodological approach I have used a critical discourse analysis, created by Norman Fairclough, to analyze political documents, trying to find the most powerful discourse in Sweden and how it affects the legal norms. I have found that the discourse in Sweden is closed, resulting in that only one discourse, Zero Tolerance, is available within the political sphere and if politicians wishes to apply other discourses they will have to do so inside the most powerful discourse Zero Tolerance. Otherwise they risk getting shut out from the political discussion. I have also found that politicians in Sweden are trying to change the discourse from inside, advocating a drug free society but also complementing this with methods from a different discourse, Harm Reduction. Further I have reached the conclusion that there is a gap between the legal and the social norms in Sweden, statistics shows that the use of drugs are increasing in the Swedish society whilst politicians and the legislation advocates a restrictive drug policy. If the gap between the two grows to big, the legal norms will be obliged to change in order to retains its legitimacy, that being said Sweden may be in the progress of changing their unique, criticised, repressive drug policy in the future.}},
  author       = {{Banerup, Frida}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Sweden's contradictory drug policy: a socio-legal study of the swedish zero tolerance approach}},
  year         = {{2016}},
}