Om önskvärdheten av svensk deltagardemokrati En analys av argument från åren 2000-2002
Participatory DemocracySwedenRepresentative DemocracyDemokratiutredningenArgumentation AnalysisPolitical and administrative sciencesStatsvetenskapFörvaltningskunskapLaw and Political Science
On the 17th of January 2002 the Swedish government presented a bill to theSwedish parliament, proposing ways of strengthening the Swedish democracythrough reforms for increased elements of participatory democracy. A publicreport on the state of the Swedish democracy had been released two years earlierwith similar enthusiasm for participatory democracy. However, the participatoryideals of these two documents were strongly criticised by a group of scholars.The aim of this thesis is to analyze and compare the arguments articulatedbetween the years 2000 and 2002 by the actors mentioned above, and to examinetheir relation to arguments concerning political participation, articulated bythinkers from previous times. By classifying the arguments into different groupsdepending on their content I find that both parties in the Swedish argumentationfocus on the effects of participatory democracy on political equality, on theefficiency of the political decision-making and the quality of the decisions beingmade, and finally on the personal character of the citizens. Among the argumentsarticulated by thinkers from previous times, similarities with the Swedishargumentation can be seen as well as important differences. To attain an overviewof the details in the Swedish argumentation the arguments are structured into pro-contra lists.