Ett förstärkt skydd för demokratin? En komparativ studie av SOU 2023:12 och beslutsformen för grundlagsändringar

Sammanfattning: The Swedish constitution possess a special status of the Swedish law. The constitution stands above all laws and regulates Swedish fundamental values. In order to differentiate the constitution from laws, there is a specific legislation that regulates the legislative process of the constitution. The legislative order requires two votes in the Parliament with one intermediate election. The provision was first regulated in the 18th century and is almost identical today. However, throughout the years several constitutional amendments have been debated and the legislative process has been questioned. Seen from an international perspective the legislative orders of constitutions differ significantly. The Scandinavian countries have found diverse methods for legislating new amendments. In 2023 the Swedish government inquiry SOU 2023:12 was released for the purpose of reforming the legislative process and aiming to enhance Swedish democracy. The thesis aims to study the proposal from a comparative perspective with the corresponding regulation of the different legal systems of Sweden, Norway and Denmark. Based on the laws and legal material used in the essay an analysis is provided in attempt to determine whether the proposal enhances the democracy or not and how the different legal systems and regulations in Scandinavia can relate to one another. The conclusions drawn are that the Scandinavian countries initially had a similar legislative process and today have substantial differences, possible reasons being differences in the development of law and society. However, what remains as a common denominator is the purpose of the legislation: to achieve a consensus in the Parliament when voting for constitutional amendments. To identify which legal system that has the most democratic regulation is difficult and may most likely differ depending on whom you ask. The new proposal seems to reflect a more balanced legislative process rather than the existing regulation. This should lead to less flexibility in the constitution, a promotion of the rule of law and can be seen as a step towards a more democratic Sweden.