Hot, våld och trakasserier : En studie om handlingsutrymme, politiska ledare och demokrati

• Main Author: Siikavaara, Caisa
• Format: Others
• Language: Swedish
• Published: Umeå universitet, Statsvetenskapliga institutionen 2014
• Subjects: political leadership; democracy; threat; violence; harressments; politiskt ledarskap; demokrati; hot; våld; trakasserier
• Online Access: http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-90629

Studies have shown that politicians are significantly more likely to become victims of violent crime than other citizens in Sweden. In fact increasing political rank and engagement are directly proportionate to increased risk for violence. Threat towards politicians is not only dangerous to the individuals involved but also to the democratic system as a whole. Political scientists the world over have done a lot of research on democracy, but I have been unable to find a single method or theory that examines how violence, threat and harassment affect political leaders and democratic systems. The aim of this study is to expand the existing model made by Tommy Möller, professor in political science. In his model he presents 11 factors that affect political leaders ability to act. My aim is to develop his model by adding a 12 th factor “violence, threat and harassment”. To fulfill the aim of the study I have analyzed texts and interviews with political leaders to discover if and how violence, threat and harassment affect them in their role as political leaders. My analysis showed that all of the interviewed political leaders had been affected by this, but on different levels. Some of them were only affected personally, some of them were affected both personally and professionally and some were only affected professionally. On a personal level they becomes more emotionally cold, jaded and chastened. Some of the leaders questioned their motivation to continue their mission as politician. On a professional level it was common to “self censure” by avoiding contemporary blogs and debates on subjects they had marked as “sensitive”,. The interviews combined with the other information and reports (analysis of texts) support the conclusion that it useful to add a 12 th factor to Tommy Möllers model in the studied case. The name of the thesis is “Threat, violence & harassments – A study of limitations of political leadership and democracy”. This thesis is a final assignment for Bachelor degree in political science.