Child marriage, only for some - An argumentation analysis of the arguments regarding child marriage in the Swedish political arena

Sammanfattning: This thesis deals with a sensitive and very relevant topic, child marriage with focus on the girl. To be exact, I study arguments concerning child marriage put forward in Swedish public debate over the past decade, arguments made in public commissions, by the government, by political parties and occasionally by non-governmental organisations. I analyse these arguments by using argumentation analysis, highlighting pro and con arguments and their baring and relevance by establish normative statements and arguments supported by empirical evidence. On the results of the analysis theories by Martha Nussbaum and Moller Okin are applied in order to clarify some of the normative arguments. My conclusion of this thesis is that the normative arguments are more often used than empirical arguments. Leaving me to think that further research on this topic is needed.