SÄKERHET KONTRA DEMOKRATISKA FRI-OCH RÄTTIGHETER En experimentell studie om hur framing av demokratiska aspekter kontra säkerhetsaspekter påverkar stödet för svensk terroristlagstiftning

Abstract

In 2023 Sweden adopted a new anti-terrorism legislation which has been criticized since it may come to restrict some of our civil liberties. Previous research in the United States has established that support for security policies heightens when a country is subject of a terror attack or threat from one, even if it means restrictions of civil liberties. This illustrates a potential conflict between two of the main tasks of democratic states, providing security and guaranteeing civil liberties. This thesis examines what the effect of framing is between these two tasks since no research of the matter has been done in Sweden. Furthermore, it examines the effect of counterframing, i.e. providing two frames at the same time, to what currently may be a one-sided debate. Previous research has only studied counterframing during an electoral campaign. I pose three hypotheses: firstly, a one-sided frame that emphasis civil liberties will decrease support for the swedish anti-terrorism legislation, the emphasizing on security will increase support, and lastly the support of the legislation will decrease when a counterframe is presented. By using an experimental method, 423 participants were randomly assigned to one of four different groups. They were either assigned to conditions with onesided frames, counterframes or the control condition. The result show that the support for anti-terrorism legislation is influenced by which frame participants were exposed to. The findings are statistically significant and the three hypotheses of the thesis are supported.