Konstruktion av normupplösning och moralisk panik

Abstract

The aim of the study is to analyze how intelligence and operative personnel in the Baltic Sea area describe the category “Russian criminals” and which discursive patterns cooperate with the construction of the category “norm-resolving Russian.” The analytical findings of a study are presented in the following themes: (1) Construction of norm resolution and moral panics: example criminal, (2) Construction of norm resolution and moral panics: example spy and (3) Construction of norm resolution and moral panics: example military invasion. The presentation of intelligence and operational police and border guard work as having varying morals and strengthening the argument for the need to fight against the other (“Russian”) can be interpreted in different ways. One interpretation is that constructed fear for the norm-resolving Russian and reproduced moralic panic is the expression of a social identity, and it is based on a contrast in relation to the “other”. By building up ideas about "enemies", moral panic is created and recreated, as well as the professional police and border guard professional identities. In addition, it shows in the analysis of the study the image of Russians pointed out by police and border guards in the Baltic region.