Editor: Erik Bylund

This essay was written as a part of a project from the Swedish parliament on Politics and Ethics. In public discourse, it is common with moral judgments about political proposals. And journalists love to disclose moral deficiencies in politicians. The essay discusses a third type of question: what is good ethics in the political process? The starting point is that words should express authentic convictions, and that actions should be in line with that has been declared. But politics is more complex than that. Can, for example, lying be defensible during any circumstances?

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