Säkerhetshotet mot Sverige - ett islamistiskt problem? En diskursanalys om hur den våldsbejakande islamistiska extremismen framställs i den svenska regeringens nationella strategier

Abstract

This essay aims to explore how violent Islamist extremism is perceived in Sweden’s national strategies against violent extremism and terrorism. In recent years, Sweden and other countries in Europe have witnessed a number of terrorist attacks and a growing violent Islamist environment. Previous studies show that other countries' national strategies are dominated by a security policy discourse where violent extremism and terrorism are portrayed as an Islamist problem, even though other violent extremist milieu might present a threat to national security as well. The analysis is implemented through Carol Bacchi's discourse analytic method "What's the problem represented to be?" (WPR). The results showed that no measures are specifically targeted at the Islamist environment within the two already identified discourses - the security policy and social policy discourse - in the strategies. However, some concepts are only used in connection with Islamist extremism, and there are many things left unproblematized in the strategies, which shows the problem with how the various concepts lack generally accepted definitions and how Islamist extremism is portrayed.