Källa på det? – En beskrivande studie om Sverigedemokraternas användning av expertkunskap inom klimat- och kriminalpolitisk riksdagsdebatt

Sammanfattning: While the schism between the Swedish Democrats and the scientific community is a well-known fact, the demand for scientific evidence in policymaking is growing ever more evident. By textual idea analysis, this thesis explores the scientific usage of the Swedish Democrats in the context of climate change and crime policy. By applying the theoretical framework, drawn mostly from Christina Boswell, the study aims to investigate how expert knowledge is used in Swedish Parliament debate. The investigation shows that the Swedish Democrats tends to use expert knowledge in a mostly symbolic fashion in the purpose of self-legitimization. Having said that, the study finds noticeable dissimilarities between the two fields, which indicate that how expert knowledge is used in the policy process, to an extent, depends on the institutional context and whether expert knowledge is seen by the surrounding environment as an authoritative source of legitimization.