"Over-policing, surveillance, and undue deprivation of liberty": A critical idea analysis of 'Tidöavtalet'

Abstract: Sweden has faced many societal challenges, including gang criminality, which has raised much concern among the public and politicians. After the elections in October 2022, Moderaterna, Sverigedemokraterna, Kristdemokraterna, and Liberalerna presented an agreement. ‘Tidöavtalet’ consists of 7 collaborative projects to solve the biggest societal problems in Sweden. It introduced several reforms to the Swedish society, which led human- and children's rights organisations to react in concern; for instance, Amnesty International indicated that the agreement showed a will to separate and stigmatize certain groups of people and make non-citizens that reside in Sweden suspicious (Amnesty International, 2022). This critical idea analysis aims to investigate ideas and ideologies expressed in the agreement and to what extent they reproduce and/or legitimize discrimination in Sweden. The analysis uses Young's "five faces of oppression" and the concept of justice. The theory provides an understanding of how disabling constraints of domination and oppression lead to different forms of injustice that violate people's inherent human rights and freedoms. The analysis of ‘Tidöavtalet’ discovered certain prevalent ideas in the agreement and shows that several reforms attempt to solve specific societal problems in Sweden in ways that contradict the state's studies, lack a child’s rights perspective and risk reproducing and legitimizing different faces of oppression.