Ett demokratiskt samtal i kris? : En jämförande studie av deliberativ kvalitet i riksdagen och på Twitter under Coronapandemin

Sammanfattning: This study sets out to compare the deliberative quality of two different forums of discussion, the Swedish parliament (the Riksdag) and the social media platform Twitter, during the covid- 19 pandemic. The study takes deliberative ideals as a theoretical starting point and asks how the deliberative quality of said forums differ. To compare the deliberative quality of these are- nas a qualitative content analysis on parliamentary debates and Twitter threads under the Public Health Agency of Sweden’s Twitter account (@folkhalsomynd) is conducted. An analytical framework is created based on the Discourse Quality Index (DQI) to assess this quality in rela- tion to deliberative ideals of respectfulness, level, content, and character of justifications and constructive politics. The study finds that deliberative quality tends to be higher in parliamen- tary debates than on Twitter, and that these differences are significant. However, even the de- liberative quality of the Riksdag is alarmingly low, forcing us to question whether the conver- sation overall is facing a crisis. Furthermore, the study finds differing ways in which delibera- tive ideals manifest in said forums. Finally, the study offers modest support to previous research that government parties tend to be more deliberative than oppositional parties, these conclusions are however limited.