In the pre-globalized era, when many nations were comparatively ethnically homogenous, sentiments about national identity and national membership were less contentious. Today, an increasingly open and inter-connected world is changing the demographic composition of countries across the globe. This growing diversity has unavoidably fueled debates about who really counts as belonging to the national community, and what qualifications need to, or should, be met to become a member of it. Does your cultural or ethnic heritage need to come from the historic ethnic majority, or is ethnicity irrelevant? Is it about adhering to a certain value base? If it is about values, what are they? This essay set out to answer these questions in the context of local expressions of nationalism in Sweden. Correlations of these expressions with ethnic nationalism were virtually non-existent. Multicultural nationalism enjoyed a bit more support, however not to any substantial degree. The ideal type of nationalism with the by far strongest presence in the data was civic nationalism, with clear references in the material to a national identity based on ethnic blindness, equality, and the rights and obligations that come with citizenship.

The intersection of forced migration and disability is often overlooked, both in research, public discourse and political action. Building on the emerging literature looking at the situation in host countries and against the backdrop of the increasing focus on employment in both asylum and disability contexts, the thesis explores the access to the labour market for persons with disabilities and forced migration experience in Sweden and Germany. In order to answer the question of how pathways to the labour market for persons with disabilities and forced migration experience look like, the thesis combines a policy document analysis with four semi-structured interviews with organisations working at the intersection in both countries. The selected material and interviews are analysed with a reflexive thematic analysis approach following Braun & Clarke (2006) under an intersectional lens. The policy analysis shows, in addition to the lack of engagement with the intersection, that the respective asylum laws influence the access to the labour market through work permits and through their interplay with the provision of disability services. From the interviews, it appears that in both countries, persons with disabilities and forced migration experience get access to the labour market either through registration with the Employment Agency and their specific programmes for persons with disabilities, through sheltered workplaces in Sweden or sheltered workshops in Germany or personal contacts with diaspora communities or organisations. These different pathways are in both countries furthermore highly dependent on structural and personal prerequisites. Despite experiences of discrimination and ableism, the interviews highlight not only the complexity that comes with the intersection, but also that persons with disabilities and forced migration experience, often with the help of organisations, nevertheless navigate the pathways and find employment.

Throughout 2015, the European Union’s response to the large number of migrants crossing the Aegean Sea became increasingly securitised. It translated to the policing of non-governmental search and rescue organisations (SAR NGOs) active in the Aegean Sea. This thesis investigates the impact of policing on the ability of SAR NGOs to deliver humanitarian assistance in the Aegean Sea between 2015-2022. It employs social constructivist deviance theory to investigate the limiting effects of policing and its potential to generate resilience and resistance. Semi-structured interviews with five staff members and volunteers who worked with SAR NGOs in the Aegean Sea between 2015-2022 explore the research question. The findings were triangulated with existing scholarly literature to address the limited sample size. The study finds that policing limits SAR NGOs’ activities and fosters resilience and resistance. Resilience and resistance may have prolonged SAR NGOs’ ability to operate. Yet, over time, the increasing severity of policing, combined with intra- and inter-organisational fragmentation undermining resilience and resistance, forced SAR NGOs to end their humanitarian assistance in the Aegean Sea. Currently, no SAR NGOs are active in the Aegean Sea, resulting in a lack of search and rescue and human rights monitoring. Consequently, the risk of deaths and human rights abuses in the Aegean Sea has increased.

According to the Global Trends Report 2021 provided by UNHCR (2022), there were 89.3 million forcibly displaced people in the world at the end of 2021, of which more than a quarter were refugees. This implies that there are more forcibly displaced people who cannot be called as refugees. The contemporary refugee and forced migration issue has developed from the social transformation in line with globalization and neoliberalism. This thesis aims to reveal how transnational migration and social transformation affect the refugee policies of the two countries where there is nothing geographically, historically, and culturally in common. To do so, the methodological approach of comparative case studies (CCS) is used to examine the refugee policies of Sweden and South Korea.  As empirical data, semi-structured interviews with government agents and NGOs from each country are analyzed and assessed with the use of theoretical framework of neoliberalism and its impact on social transformation. The results suggest that the refugee policies of the two countries converged on the minimum level of protection. Furthermore, not only refugees or asylum seekers but also many other people, including migrants and even native born cannot get appropriate protection from the current system. An additional finding is that countries should develop reasonable migration policy to meet both the demand of the national economy and humanitarian protection. This would be possible by preparing the entry rights for economic migrants in accordance with their labor market demands and guaranteeing appropriate entitlements for them.  This thesis demonstrates that comparing the refugee policy between Western and non-Western countries has significance for understanding the power relations that bind the seemingly dissimilar countries together. Therefore, the refugee policies in non-Western countries and their relationship with Western counterparts should be researched further.

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We live in an era of advanced technological innovations and it is therefore difficult to acquire a proper overview of the different surveillance techniques deployed for the purpose of enhancing and administrating migration control. The intent of this paper is to disseminate one of the new technologies on the market: the biometric technology that is an identification and verification system based on measurements of biological traits. Different approaches are used to explore and investigate the technological functions, social structures and political justifications for their validity and their role in the implementation of the biometric technology. The paper also provides an overview of the different areas of political and social management that are affected by the implementation of the biometric techniques.The principal aim of this work is to examine how the implementation of the biometric techniques will affect privacy for all people, taking both information privacy and personal integrity into consideration. The second question deals with migration management, as the current implementation mainly involves travel documents. It focuses on the consequences of the so-called war on terror and its call for prevention of terrorism and irregular migration. The dilemma between national security and the right to privacy, public good and private interests, and the realms of state and individual rights are also discussed and analysed.Hence, the framework and the fundamental structure of this thesis are based on three core issues pertinent to the implementation of biometrics in the EU: threats posed on the right to privacy, securitization of migration, and intensification of surveillance and state control. The findings are used to identify the threats posed on right to privacy and the way this right is compromised, and the consequences of practices and policies in the field of migration that are discriminatory and exclusory. Lastly, by employing different theories, this paper examines why state seeks technological control over citizens and why individuals comply with state control and surveillance.

The central concern of this study is to determine the role of return migration in the changing economic and noneconomic determinants of state in-migration. It was hypothesized that the transition from primarily economic to noneconomic determinants of in-migration in the United States in the last decade was directly related to changes in the components of the migration stream itself; that is, that an increasing proportion of return migrants in the in-migration stream contributes to the movement toward noneconomic reasons for migrating. This study compares the selective characteristics of lifetime and five-year non migrants, and primary, secondary and return migrants using Public Use Sample data for 1960, 1970, and 1980. In addition, it analyzes four economic and six noneconomic determinants of migration for 1970 and 1980 usinq a data set that includes published data on state migration and socioeconomic characteristics. An analysis of the selectivities of migration has both supported and rejected existing literature. In a comparison of migrants and non migrants, migrants tend to be younger, better educated persons from white collar occupations with higher incomes and smaller households than non migrants. When migrant types are compared, return migrants tend not to be as well off as other migrants socioeconomically. They tend to have lower education, come from blue collar occupations, have larger households, be a little older and have less income than other migrants. The most significant finding is the distinction of five-year from lifetime nonmigrants. The regression analysis on the determinants of state in-migration reveals that there has been a shift from economic to noneconomic reasons for migrating from 1970 to 1980. In addition, the relative proportion of primary, secondary and return migration has changed over time. Contrary to the hypothesis, however, the trend from economic to noneconomic determinants of migration has not been related to changes in the proportion of return this study points to the relationship migration in the stream. Rather, further research that investigates between secondary migration and the changing determinants of state in-migration. / Ph. D.

This thesis aims to discover and analyse the locals' perceptions of transit migrants in Necoclí and howthese perceptions influence their attitudes and behaviours towards the migrants. This research has beeninspired by the limited attention in existing literature towards the Colombian local communities impactedby transit migration through the Darien Gap, including their residents' perceptions and role in this type ofmigration. Ten semi structured interviews conducted to locals in Necoclí revealed the differentperceptions residents have of these migrants, varying from positive perceptions associated with economicimprovement to negative perceptions associated with tourism decline, disturbances and difficult access toresources. Locals also perceive transit migrants as human beings and as money or economy. The findingsreveal several attitudes and behaviours towards transit migrants from solidarity and empathy to suspicion,discrimination and xenophobia. Venezuelans are the transit migrants experiencing the most negativeperceptions, attitudes and behaviours from locals in Necoclí.

This study explores the influence of social media on Iranian students’ migration decisions, specifically choosing Sweden as their study destination. The study contributes to addressing identified gaps in understanding major factors and drivers of migration decisions and social media’s potential role in the process. A quantitative approach was utilized to collect data through the online survey of Iranian students currently residing in Sweden. The online survey aimed to research the key migration influencers and assess the impact of social media on respective decisions. The analysis indicates that migration decisions are influenced by a combination of internal and external factors. Generally, migration decisions are influenced by economic factors, related to the country of relocation, political climate, and personal development potential. Social media, specifically Instagram and Telegram, was a valuable source of information and social interactions; its impact was moderate compared to identified influencers. Despite a clear role in creating migration perceptions, economic, social, and safety factors drive these decisions to this point.

This paper explores the employment integration of Syrian refugees in the Swedish labor market, focusing on Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö. As the largest migrant group in Sweden, Syrians face significant challenges in labor market integration. Understanding the key factors influencing their employment is crucial. By utilizing existing quantitative survey data collected from Syrian refugees in these cities, the study seeks to understand what key factors influence their employment levels. The study’s findings demonstrate that education and language proficiency often correlate with higher employment levels. Regional context also plays a role, with geographic location affecting employment prospects. Moreover, subjective discriminatory experiences are shown to negatively impact employment outcomes, highlighting the need for inclusive practices. Gender disparities are evident, with males consistently demonstrating higher employment levels than females, posing questions on gender roles. This research highlights avenues for improving the employment integration of Syrian refugees.