Media constructions of the refugee crisis in Sweden

Abstract

In an article entitled ‘The Death of the Most Generous Nation on Earth’, American journalist James Traub (2016) claims that ‘The vast migration of desperate souls from Syria, Iraq, and elsewhere has posed a moral test the likes of which Europe has not faced since the Nazis forced millions from their homes in search of refuge. Europe has failed that test.’ Sweden stands out as an exception in Traub’s analysis due to the country’s generous refugee reception policies. These policies, however, are bound to fail, and Traub argues that Sweden has to pay ‘for its unshared idealism’. That Sweden had a generous refugee policy (see also chapter 5) is a component of Swedish identity, both as viewed by most Swedes themselves and as viewed by others, despite the variety of academic arguments challenging that image. To name a few examples: researchers have documented the negative experiences of asylum seekers awaiting a decision (Brekke, 2004); the inhumane conditions at detention centres (Khosravi, 2009); the process of credibility assessment that assumes fraudulence on part of asylum seekers (Noll, 2005); the institutionalised power imbalance between asylum claimants and the authorities that challenge these claims in the legal process (Joormann, 2019; see also chapter 2); and the inhumane views of the Other that shape different levels of the migration bureaucracy (Barker, 2012; Schoultz, 2013; see also chapter 9). It is, therefore, logical to wonder how Sweden’s image as generous, humane and righteous has persisted despite such evidence. Additionally, given the drastic shifts in refugee policies following the summer of 2015 (see chapter 3), and if we accept Traub’s characterisation of ‘unshared idealism’ as the basis for such shifts, tracing the transformation of such an idealism helps our understanding of Swedish cultural and political climate and the position of refugees within it. Importantly, and to use the arguments put forth in this book, if we understand the policy changes as a form of bureaucratic violence, how has this form of violence been formulated, communicated and consolidated in society? Dalia Abdelhady