ABSTRACT
Extreme weather is figured as a problem related to crisis management, good management, and experts rather than a political problem, politics, and a democratic discussion open to all who are interested. This chapter analyzes the Swedish weather-mania of the new millennium and its manifestations in print, radio, and television and theorizes the functions of menacing weather in a contemporary Scandinavian risk society. It is divided into four sections. First, the chapter discusses the framing of argument and its methodological and theoretical underpinnings. Second, it provides a short overview of the foundation of the Swedish welfare state. Third, the chapter analyzes Swedish media representations of extreme weather and shows how people understand what is described as extreme weather. Finally, it overviews with a discussion of what these narratives reveal about the relationship between the governance of a welfare state and the governing of a contemporary democracy, as well as the current state of democracy in Sweden.
