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The purpose of this thesis is to examine how and why a law of consent has been able to gain support among Swedish parties and most Swedish legislators. The question about what should be defined as consensual sexual acts and not have been frequently discussed in Swedish media and the political sphere during the last few years. Women’s interest associations have been urging Swedish lawmakers to institute a law of consent. According to Swedish law, those who have physically forced or threatened someone into having sexual intercourse meet juridical consequences. The theory of historical institutionalism points out that institutions, such as laws, often change marginally and not dramatically. This seems to apply also in the Swedish case of lawmaking. At the end of 1998, the ruling social democratic parliament appointed a committee to investigate whether and how a law of consent should be implemented in Swedish law. Different parliaments have since discussed this issue and the law of consent has not gained support, until now. In 2014, a committee consisting of representatives of all governing parties concluded that a law of consent should reimburse current law. This thesis will show that the law of consent was able to gain support due to incremental change of the institution. It also considers how ideas provoke actors to act for change, if existing institutions fail to fulfill their purposes.

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No description available.