| dc.description.abstract | In 1971, Sweden ratified The International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD), without making a reservation to Article 4b. This particular article obliges all ratified states to criminalise and prohibit the participation and activity of organisations, which promotes racial hatred and/or racial discrimination. Yet no such ban has been enforced in Sweden to date.
The aim of this study is to explore, from a democratic perspective, how the issue of imposing a ban against racist organisations in Sweden has been debated by the Swedish parliament.
By using theoretical perspectives of a liberal conception of democracy and an egalitarian conception of democracy as its theoretical framework, and ideal types as its methodological tool, the study analyses parliamentary documents from 1968 - 2019 to better understand the underlying conflicts of values in this debate.
The results of the study show that a liberal conception of democracy has dominated much of the debate during this time period, with the exception of two Official Reports of the Swedish Government, dated 1984 and 1989 respectively, where an egalitarian conception of democracy can be distinguished as the dominating conception.
The study also found that when the debate was dominated by a liberal conception of democracy, values such as the protection of individuals freedoms were prioritised, and the idea of banning racist organisations was opposed, as a ban of this kind is a form of limitation on the freedom of association. Furthermore, the study found that values which correlated to social justice, were more likely to be prioritised when the debate was dominated by an egalitarian conception of democracy. The implementation of a ban against racist organisations was also more likely to be recommended when the issue was viewed from this conception of democracy.
Key words: democracy, conflict of values, freedom of association, freedom of speech, racial discrimination, racist organisations, International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, Sweden | sv |
