A case study on how municipalities in Kalmar County work preventive against radicalization and violent extremism

Sammanfattning: Since 2014, the National Coordinator has been responsible for protecting our democracy against violent extremism in Sweden. Today, it is clear that the preventive aspect against violent extremism and radicalization cannot be adjusted only to law enforcement. On a national level, the Government has implemented a strategy against terrorism and an action plan to increase the strength of our democracy towards the threat of violent extremism. Every municipality is participating in the national work and network against violent extremism. As a part of the national action plan, the municipalities’ employees, local police, and civil society have the best opportunity to prevent violent extremism. Many municipalities have adopted a plan of actions on a local level, and the employment of local coordinators has increased. However, many of them still have much work left with the implementations, and some have not even started. This case study aims to examine how two different municipalities in Kalmar county are operating with the recommendations from the national level and how they work to prevent radicalization and violent extremism. One of the chosen municipalities has, at this moment, publicly presented a plan of action on how and which institutions should work to prevent violent extremists and the second have not. I will use the following research questions, to study how these municipalities are operating with the recommendations from a national level concerning radicalization and violent extremism. • How do the municipalities implement the strategies and policies on the prevention of radicalization and violent extremism put forward by the Swedish Government? • How do the institutions in the municipalities work with, and how do they assess their work on the prevention of radicalization and violent extremism? To reach a result and understanding of my research questions, a methodology containing an abductive case study with semi-structured interviews was made to collect current and primary information. The findings indicate that collaboration between actors in the municipalities is vital in order to strengthen the democracy and the democratic values that protect our society from violent extremism and radicalization.