Terrorism and the secular Sweden : A discourse analysis of leaders and debate articles in Swedish newspapers focusing on islamist terrorism, extremism, and radicalization around the attacks of terror through Europe between 2015 and 2017

The debate on acts of terror is based on the relation between religion and violence. According to the modern interpretation of secularization, in a secular country, the government is supposed to make decisions and to act without the influence from religious beliefs. Acts of terror, extremism and radicalization has, therefore, been regarded as symbols of extreme interpretations of religion rather than ideology. This has led to consequences in how and about whom suspicions arise. The objective of this study is therefore to investigate how the debate on acts of terror and terrorism has been depicted in three different newspapers, with different political views. The material is analyzed through the theories of secularization, phrased by Jürgen Habermas, Jose Casanova and Talal Asad. To give a nuanced view of the debate, the leader-, culture- and debate pages of three well-established newspapers are reviewed with regards to terrorism, extremism and radicalization. The material is thereafter categorized into four different discourses where the strongest arguments are discussed. The conclusion is that the three newspapers and most of all, the writers, have different opinions regarding both the root of the problem on terrorism and the solution to the same. The writers that mainly consider the problem to be ideological generally promote a softer path, where actions that risk inflicting on privacy and democratic rights should be avoided in favor of actions strengthening the well-fare system. Writers considering the problem to be religious are in contrary also more prone to argument for a harder path. They promote increased funds to police and security although it could imply actions that risk to inflict on privacy and democratic rights, for example through increased supervision. It can also be concluded that the opinions of the writers are tied to the political alignment of the newspaper they are representing. Finally, although the argumentation in the different newspapers differs in some ways, they all agree on the importance of keeping calm and preserving the political integrity, both as a community and as individuals