Trading Democratic Rights for a Sense of Security : A Quantitative Study of Genders’ Effect on Swedes' Willingness to Limit Their Democratic Rights for Security

Abstract: The stand of liberal democracy as the most desirable form of governance has long been left unquestioned in the West. The rise of geopolitical, and national, security issues force the population in these states to consider the trade off between security and democracy. Research on which demographic factors affect populations’ attitudes towards limiting their democratic rights for the sake of security is scarce. The few studies of the Swedish population's relationship to their democracy that do exist, do not problematize the found relationship between gender and the will to limit democracy in cases of crises.  This thesis tests what effects Swedes’ will to limit democracy for the sake of national security against two hypotheses. Right Wing Authoritarianism is used as the explanatory framework as to why women are more positive towards democracy limiting security measures than men. Utilising multiple regression analysis, the findings indicate that women to a larger extent than men are more positive towards democracy limiting security measures when controlling for other demographic factors and time. Therefore, this study concludes that gender-based structures in society affect womens’ relationship with the trade-off between security and democracy.