Saying that Responsible is Repressive: A Poststructuralist Policy Analysis of Swedish Crime Policy Following the 2022 Election
(2024) STVM20 20241Department of Political Science
- Abstract
- In this qualitative and poststructuralist policy analysis, the Swedish Crime policy is examined as it is expressed through three political documents from three different parties during the post-election period of October 2022-March 2024. Using Laclau and Mouffe’s discourse theory, with its Lacanian influence on the subject, this paper investigates the political language used in the policy area during a particularly relevant time. Through deep reading of the three key documents the nodal points of the discourse are identified, and its construction is presented to the reader in the form of the chain of equivalence. The discourse that is
discernible in the crime policy is constructed around the notion that the public’s safety is absent. The... (More) - In this qualitative and poststructuralist policy analysis, the Swedish Crime policy is examined as it is expressed through three political documents from three different parties during the post-election period of October 2022-March 2024. Using Laclau and Mouffe’s discourse theory, with its Lacanian influence on the subject, this paper investigates the political language used in the policy area during a particularly relevant time. Through deep reading of the three key documents the nodal points of the discourse are identified, and its construction is presented to the reader in the form of the chain of equivalence. The discourse that is
discernible in the crime policy is constructed around the notion that the public’s safety is absent. The chain of equivalence is so constructed that the prerequisite for safety’s return is responsibility. Responsibility within the discourse means advocating for stricter punishment and increased repression. Migration’s discursive position in the chain is that of cause for the lack of safety. The discourse’s construction effectively excludes from the possible any political action that does not promote increased repression in crime policy. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9171427
- author
- Bengtsson Salomonsson, Jim LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- STVM20 20241
- year
- 2024
- type
- H1 - Master's Degree (One Year)
- subject
- keywords
- Laclau & Mouffe, discourse, policy analysis, crime policy, poststructuralism
- language
- English
- id
- 9171427
- date added to LUP
- 2025-08-15 16:46:31
- date last changed
- 2025-08-15 16:46:31
@misc{9171427,
abstract = {{In this qualitative and poststructuralist policy analysis, the Swedish Crime policy is examined as it is expressed through three political documents from three different parties during the post-election period of October 2022-March 2024. Using Laclau and Mouffe’s discourse theory, with its Lacanian influence on the subject, this paper investigates the political language used in the policy area during a particularly relevant time. Through deep reading of the three key documents the nodal points of the discourse are identified, and its construction is presented to the reader in the form of the chain of equivalence. The discourse that is
discernible in the crime policy is constructed around the notion that the public’s safety is absent. The chain of equivalence is so constructed that the prerequisite for safety’s return is responsibility. Responsibility within the discourse means advocating for stricter punishment and increased repression. Migration’s discursive position in the chain is that of cause for the lack of safety. The discourse’s construction effectively excludes from the possible any political action that does not promote increased repression in crime policy.}},
author = {{Bengtsson Salomonsson, Jim}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Saying that Responsible is Repressive: A Poststructuralist Policy Analysis of Swedish Crime Policy Following the 2022 Election}},
year = {{2024}},
}