This study has aimed to examine the actions of the European Union and its member states during the on-going refugee crisis. The EU is founded on a certain set of values and institutions that were clearly abandoned by more than one of the actors of the EU in the face of the overwhelming refugee crisis. The purpose is thus to investigate the cause behind these decisions by using two European integration theories. Neofunctionalism and Security Communities were chosen because of their founding role in the field of theories and because they constitute a so called hard case. The study concludes that the reason for these actions has its explanation in the lack of trust and common values between the member states. The crisis is also perceived by some actors as an outside threat due to the securitization of the European identity.

The purpose of this research paper is to examine how Syrian refugees are visually represented in two of the largest newspapers in Sweden: Dagens Nyheter (Today’s news) and Svenska Dagbladet (The Swedish daily paper). Their choice of images on the Syrian refugee crisis will be analysed, to see what sort of message they send by using those specific images. The reason for this study is because previous studies have implied that the media has an important role in crafting national perceptions of refugees. Therefore, it is intriguing to analyse the images the newspapers published during the fall of 2015 to see how Syrian refugees were represented during that most active and chaotic period in Sweden and if the visual representation of Syrian refugees can influence cultures of hostility in Sweden. The study has been linked with previous studies research of visual representations of refugees (us and them, identifiable victim effect) and the severe consequences it can lead to (dehumanization, moral panic) if used improperly, and three main theories that will be the foundation to custom and analyse the images (agenda setting, framing and representation theory). These were all applied and used when operating the method (quantitative content analysis) to collect information and data and also later when analysing and discussing the results. The result of the study showed that the newspapers images did not only focus on negative aspects of events and stories surrounding Syrian refugees. Dagens Nyheter and Svenska Dagbladet did not publish many negative images, but after the results, it is discovered that they are following that specific path on some aspects and that can be the start of a pattern that will be used more often in the future. While it is established that hostile and unwelcoming attitudes in the West have risen, the question remains how far its been developed in Sweden and how long it will be until the Swedish media promotes it as well. Key words: Syrian Refugee Crisis, Visual representation, Framing, Agenda setting and Stereotypes

Currently, over 65 million people around the world have been forced from their homes; among them are nearly 21 million refugees. Thus, the discussion of refugees and refugee camps on a global scale is ever more salient given the recent heightened attention to the global crises. This thesis uses an interdisciplinary Science, Technology, and Society (STS) approach to analyze the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) policies, refugee camps, and their implication in the greater society.

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Bakgrund: Under hösten 2015 drabbades Europa av den största flyktingkrisen i modern tid. Av de totalt 163 000 flyktingar som passerade den svenska gränsen var många ensamkommande barn som fördelades ut i kommunerna av Migrationsverket. Kommunerna kan i sin tur delvis hantera detta mottagande genom ramavtalsupphandling av asylplatser, men behovet har tidigare år varit litet. Flyktingkrisen ökade således dramatiskt efterfrågan på platser, vilket försatte kommunerna i en pressad situation och ställde krav på resiliens. Syfte: Syftet med uppsatsen är att beskriva och förstå hur offentlig upphandling fungerar i en krissituation, genom att undersöka kommunernas upphandling av HVB-hem och konsulentstödda familjehem/jourhem under hösten 2015 samt se hur dessa hanterat sitt mottagande av ensamkommande flyktingbarn. Metod: Syftet uppnås genom en kvalitativ flerfallstudie fokuserad på ett fåtal undersökta kommuner. Det empiriska materialet har samlats in genom nio semistrukturerade intervjuer samt sekundärdata i form av en dokumentstudie. Slutsats: Offentlig upphandling är idag reglerat av en mycket strikt och tidskrävande lagstiftning som i detalj styr upphandlingsförfarandet för berörda myndigheter. Endast mindre upphandlingar tar minst ett halvår att genomföra, oavsett hur stort behovet på den aktuella varan är. Eftersom krissituationer karaktäriseras av tidsbrist och överraskning fungerar dessa således dåligt tillsammans, vilket var tydligt under flyktingkrisen. De ökade flyktingströmmarna skapade då ett stort platsbehov som snabbt behövde hanteras, men nya ramavtal skulle ändå inte finnas att tillgå förrän långt in på 2016. I krissituationer får därför upphandling ske genom direktupphandling, vilket dock kunnat innebära en betydligt högre prisnivå. Hur kommunerna sedan hanterat sitt flyktingmottagande har till stor del berott på vilka förutsättningar som funnits. De som kunnat bygga ut egna HVB-hem och överbelägga dessa och/eller haft det lättare att värva egna familjehem kunde rent ekonomiskt anta ett mer resilient bemötande av krisen än de kommuner som tvingats direktupphandla. Ur ett sammantaget perspektiv är bedömningen svårare då alla alternativ haft olika för- och nackdelar som måste vägas mot varandra. / Background: During the fall of 2015 Europe suffered from the most severe refugee crisis in modern time. Out of the 163 000 refugees that crossed the Swedish border about 35 000 were classified as unaccompanied minors, whom were later allocated to the municipals by Migrationsverket. The municipals in turn solve this reception partly by framework agreements of asylum accommodations. The refugee crisis dramatically increased the demand for accommodation, which put the municipals under pressure and raised the need for resilience from them. Aim: The aim of this study is to describe and to understand how public procurement functions in a crisis situation by investigating Swedish municipals procurement of homes for care and resident (HVB) and consultant supported foster homes during the fall of 2015 and to see how they have managed their reception of unaccompanied minors. Methodology: The aim is achieved by using a qualitative multiple case study focused on a small number of investigated municipals. The empirical material has been sampled from nine semi-structured interviews as well as secondary data in the form of relevant documents. Conclusion: Public procurement is regulated by a legislation which is considered very time-consuming as well as administratively demanding. Even minor procurements take at least six months to execute independently of how high the demand of the required good or service is. Since crises are characterized by surprise and time shortage, these work poorly together, something which became exceedingly apparent during the refugee crisis. The high number of unaccompanied minors rapidly increased the demand for accommodations, but new framework agreements could not be obtained until they had been in procurement for at least a year. In crisis situations, the use of accelerated procedure is therefore necessary. How the municipals solved their reception depended largely on their different prerequisites. Those who could find other ways to create new places besides using accelerated procedure could also out of an economic perspective withtake a more resilient refutation of the crisis. However, from a more multidisciplinary approach it is difficult to determine which alternatives that were the most resilient options for the municipals since all of them had advantages and disadvantages.

This research examines discourses on the social media site Weibo around the group of international asylum seekers during an online campaign launched by United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to raise awareness of asylum seekers in the People’s Republic of China on June 2017. Sina Weibo is a Chinese social media site with its users making up of around 50% of total Chinese internet users (Weibo, 2017). Despite the background that Chinese government aims at taking more significant responsibility in global governance, in the same time as China demonstrates emerging interests in refugee issues, commentaries from grassroots Chinese on social media, however, held an altered stance. According to the author’s observation, during and after the UNHCR campaign of World Refugee Day on June 20, 2017, comments on topics of international refugee, refugee protection as well as certain religious and ethnic groups (Islam and Muslim, for example) on Weibo were mainly loaded with negative emotions, biased stereotypes, and resistant sentiments.  The study is an interdisciplinary study contemplating theory in several disciplines, such as international migration and ethnic relations, international relations, public attitude dynamics, public communication, and new media. It is based on a critical discourse analysis approach, where the relationship between cyber discursive practices and the social, cultural, and power structure in the Chinese context is studied. Chinese public perception of the European “refugee crisis”, the public reaction toward several humanitarian pursuits which are deemed to be possessed by the West, grassroots identification of usand them, the global production and dissemination of particular xenophobic and Islamophobic sentiments will be studied. Last but not least, features of social media concerning their possible impacts on the aspects mentioned above are analyzed.

Focusing on the case study of the so-called ‘European refugee crisis’ in Greece since 2015, the research highlights new insights into the motivations, experiences, and challenges of international volunteers in humanitarian relief operations. Unlike previous analyses on volunteer motivations, this study’s analytical framework is built on a combination of the functional (psychological) and symbolic (sociological) approach to the theory of motivation. With the help of Clary and Snyder’s Volunteer Functions Inventory, seven motivations of volunteers are outlined. Further, volunteers’ challenges, including psychological stressors are identified with the help of the Maslach Burnout Inventory. Building on a mixed methods research design, 66 responses to an online survey were enriched with data from six in-depth interviews. The study displays volunteers’ typical socio-demographic characteristics to be young, female European students, who come to Greece on their own, who finance their stay through personal income, and who tend to stay between one to three months. The analysis reveals volunteers’ motivations to be first and foremost altruistic; however, internationals are also influenced by other, more self-centered motivations, including their desire to learn through hands-on skills, and to advance their career. Motivations to prolong their volunteer commitment or to return to Greece particularly include social bonds built during previous engagements, the incentive to reduce feelings of guilt over being more fortunate than others, and the desire to relive experiences of increased self-fulfillment and personal growth. Dividing the sample by gender and age illustrates somewhat differing motivations among the sub-samples, leading to the conclusion that volunteers’ motivations are diverse, multifaceted, fluid, and placed somewhere along a spectrum between altruistic and egoistic aspirations. The study of people’s experiences overall suggests high satisfactions among the volunteers; however, sentiments of feeling at times overwhelmed and stressed are very present among most volunteers, regardless the length of their stay Greece or their performed activities. The workload, a too heavy burden of responsibility, lack of sufficient time to reenergize, lack of managerial support, and conflicts among volunteers particularly have the potential to lead to emotional exhaustion, depersonalized behavior, and challenges when returning home.

Our paper focuses on a non-standard sharing example that harbors the potential to disrupt received wisdom on the sharing economy. While originally entering the field to analyze, broadly from a governance perspective, how the 2015 refugee crisis was handled in Vienna, Austria, we found that the non-governmental organization Train of Hope - labeled as a "citizen start-up" by City of Vienna officials - played an outstanding role in mastering the crisis. In a blog post during his visit in Vienna at the time, and experiencing the refugee crisis first-hand, it was actually Henry Mintzberg who suggested reading the phenomenon as part of the "sharing economy". Continuing this innovative line of thought, we argue that our unusual case is in fact an excellent opportunity to discover important aspects about both the nature and organization of sharing. First, we uncover an additional dimension of sharing beyond the material sharing of resources (i.e., the economic dimension): the sharing of a distinct concern (i.e., the moral dimension of sharing). Our discovery exemplifies such a moral dimension that is rather different from the status quo materialistic treatments focusing on economic transactions and property rights arguments. Second, we hold that a particular form of organizing facilitates the sharing economy: the sharing economy organization. This particular organizational form is distinctive - at the same time selectively borrowing and skillfully combining features from platform organizations (e.g., use of technology as an intermediary for exchange and effective coordination, ability to tap into external resources) and social movements (e.g., mobilization, shared identity, collective action). It is a key quality of this form of organization to enable the balancing of the two dimensions inherent in the nature of sharing: economic and moral. Our paper contributes to this Special Issue of the Academy of Management Discoveries by highlighting and explaining the two-fold economic and moral nature of sharing and the organization of sharing between movement and platform.

The overarching aim of this essay is to chart how Swedish news papers have framed refugees and the refugee crisis during 2013, 2015 and 2017 and if there has been a shift in the usage. The paper searches to do so by examining editorial articles from two of the biggest newspapers in Sweden, Aftonbladet and Svenska Dagbladet. The two papers have opposite ideological views; however, they are both independent from political parties. Drawing on an analytical framework elaborated in earlier studies the study uses frame analysis to examine the different usage made during each year. The study finds that the most dominant frame during the time is the responsibility frame, focusing on the responsibility and/or lack of responsibility taken by the government in relation to the refugees. It is also observed that the shift in usage of the human interest-frame and the economical frame is the most distinguishable, where the use of the first-named decrease while the other increase in 2015 compared with 2013. It is also observed that the content of these frames varies among the examined years. The conclusion of the essay is that the framing of refugees has changed not only under the researched years but over all and that the usage is in constant movement.

In order to understand the role of discourse in a system of multi-level governance, this thesis performs a case study of Sweden’s response to the 2015-2016 refugee crisis. Initially praised as the European country who accepted the highest number of asylum applications per capita, by the end of 2015 Sweden had limited its asylum policy to the minimum levels under EU law. The abrupt policy change coincided with the emergence of two primary refugee discourses among media and politicians: a solidarity-oriented discourse and a problem-oriented discourse. While both discourses are visible at each level of governance, the national government expressed a commitment to solidarity through its humanitarian ideology while the local municipalities often described the challenges of accommodating the refugees as problematic. To analyze the impact of contrasting discourses at multiple levels of governance, a critical discourse analysis is conducted of news media in Sweden at the national level and the local level and discussed with reference to the theory of postcolonialism. The discourse analysis is then compared to the major changes to refugee policy at the national level and refugee reception at the local level. The results indicate a strong relationship between refugee policy/reception and media discourse at each level of governance, but a much weaker relationship between the levels of governance. This research provides new insight into the theory of multi-level governance and migration studies through its comparison of refugee governance at multiple levels.