En plattform för det fria ordet En studie om hanteringen av extremism vid fyra svenska universitet
TerrorismExtremismUniversitiesHigher educationDemocracyNational securityCounter-TerrorismSocial sciencesSamhällsvetenskaperPolitical and administrative sciencesStatsvetenskapFörvaltningskunskapSocial SciencesLaw and Political Science
This master thesis? purpose is to examine the role of Swedish universities in the prevention of extremism and terrorism. Depending on how the universities look upon their role in preventing extremism and promoting democracy among their students, extremism can either flourish or be restrained in the higher learning environment. An unclear standpoint against extremism from the universities side could make it possible for extremism to prosper at the universities, and students with extremist opinions may be radicalized and recruited to extremist organizations and terrorism. What are the universities standpoints in the matter whether universities should promote democracy and prevent and restrain extremism and the recruitment of students to extremist organizations? During the study I have mainly been using primary material in the shape of semi structured interviews with predecessors of four Swedish universities. I analyzed the data with a qualitative method by categorizing the contents through a theoretical framework acquired from Bo Rothstein's theory about the state's relation to its citizens. The results show that the standpoints of the studied universities do indeed differ. Two of the universities claim they should not take part in an active struggle against extremism, due to the importance of the individual freedom of opinion; the third is in favour of an active approach against extremism, and the fourth is generally oblivious about the issues at hand. It is obviously not possible to draw generalized conclusions about all Swedish universities from the results. Several universities utter they do have extremist groups at the university, but none has admitted having evident problems with recruitment of their students to extremist organizations.