Beyond client criminalization: Analyzing collaborative governance arrangements for combatting prostitution and trafficking in Sweden

Abstract

Sweden is well-known as the first country in the world to adopt client criminalization in the effort to control and eventually eliminate prostitution. Less known and discussed is the emergence of extensive collaborative governance arrangements that serve as complements to the legal framework. The aim of this article is to provide new knowledge as it investigates the multifaceted ways in which governance arrangements have developed in Sweden, employing collaborative governance theories and the Regulatory-Intermediaries-Target (RIT) model for this purpose. Also explored are the strategies of responsibilization directed towards target groups that have been utilized in implementing policies to control prostitution and trafficking. The article analyzes not only the rationale behind the adoption of collaborative governance in Sweden, but also the complex governance practices, in which a range of actors are involved in policy making and application as well as regulation, that have emerged in this regard. We conclude that the previous understanding of the Swedish model needs to be revised, and that although collaborative governance has made a fruitful contribution to the field in question, it also introduces new types of problems, particularly a significant increase in informality and decision-making outside the legal framework, primarily by civil society actors.

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La reforma del marco legal sobre prostitución. ¿Por qué varones y mujeres no piensan igual?

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