Freedom as a discursive instrument in Swedish transition governance: how political actors strategically construct normative power

Sammanfattning

A growing field of research investigates the role of justice as a value in the making and un-making of climate transition governance. However, in climate political debates, we increasingly observe the use of another value – freedom – in ways that intersect with justice-based arguments, and that reach across the entire political ideological spectrum. To investigate this discursive use of freedom and its implications, we conducted a qualitative document analysis – including policies, parliamentary debate, news and debate articles – of Swedish climate politics 2022/2023. We found that freedom served to (de)legitimize policy proposals, harnessing the normative power of freedom to back up pre-defined policy choices rather than to examine a range of possible options. This strategic discursive practice reduced freedom both conceptually and morally to focus on individuals’ freedom from state intervention, omitting genuine engagement with the role of responsibility and the limits to freedom. Paradoxically, a strong state that protected its citizens from market and other forces was still implied but not acknowledged. The resulting, thin and almost uncontested notion of freedom legitimized the status quo and prevented the consideration of alternative policy options. We conclude with suggestions for an in-depth public debate on the role of freedom in transition governance.

Nyckelord

Discourse; values; negative freedom; reflexive freedom; justice; discursive agency

Publicerad i

Critical Policy Studies
2025

SLU författare

• Marklund, Josefina

  • Institutionen för stad och land, Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet
    

• Förell, Nora

  • Institutionen för stad och land, Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet
    

• Fischer, Anke

  • Institutionen för stad och land, Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet
    

UKÄ forskningsämne

Statsvetenskap (Exklusive freds- och konfliktforskning)
Miljövetenskapliga studier inom samhällsvetenskap
Medie- och kommunikationsvetenskap

Publikationens identifierare

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/19460171.2025.2476976

Permanent länk till denna sida (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/141165