Urban Riots in Sweden : Is there Continuity or Change in the Political Discourse?

Abstract: In the last ten years several violent protests have emerged in Sweden´s largest cities. Some of them have developed into real riots, resulting in burned cars and large police operations. These violent events, or ‘urban riots’, are a relatively new phenomenon in Sweden. The aim of this qualitative study is to investigate the structure of the discourse among the Swedish political elite in power. I will observe if the political discourse on disadvantaged areas in Sweden is characterized by continuity or change after urban riots. This study examines four urban riot cases, between 2005 and 2013.    To study how the political discourse is constructed, framing theory elements are combined with elements from discourse analysis. The characteristic features of the two framing dimensions are outlined which gives me a framework to categorize the political discourse. The two dimensions are; diagnostic and prognostic frames. The discourse analytical elements are used in order to systemize who is included in the political discourse by the political elite in power. A discourse analysis is then conducted on the collected empirical material, which consists of newspaper articles and parliamentarian debates from the Swedish parliament.   The results from the analysis suggest that the disadvantaged districts are not salient both before and after the riots among the political elite in power, except for the last case. In this case the riot as such has no observable ‘effect’ on political discourse about disadvantaged districts. The political actors tend to separate riots as events from the disadvantaged districts. The last riot did not change how the government defined the problem in the suburbs and how it should be solved. In all cases the political discourse has a strong divide between the state and the inhabitants in the suburbs. The state acts and residents are acted upon.