The interrelation between gender and the asylum-seeking process has received increasing attention within academic as well as political discussions in the past decade. Looking specifically at the case of Sweden, this paper hopes to add to existing knowledge through the consideration of how tensions and contradictions regarding migrants and asylum-seekers affect women’s experiences of the asylum-seeking process. The analysis builds on the idea that the European Union Member States, Sweden included, have cultivated a “securitized” migration discourse which considers refugees and asylum-seekers as a threat to national security and stability. This has resulted in reinvigorated internal and external controls on migration and asylum, with particular structural and gendered implications for those seeking asylum in the EU. The aim of the study is to explore how these implications affect women’s experiences of seeking asylum in Sweden. It finds that women, and especially women belonging to ethic minority groups in their home-countries, are particularly vulnerable to the effects of securitization due to lack of social and economic resources, increased exposure to gender based violence (GBV) during the migratory journey, insecurities related to male-dominated and overcrowded asylum accommodation centers, and insecurities related to family fragmentation.

Migration has been seen as an issue that needs to be addressed by governments as well as international organizations such as the European Union, IOM and so on. Over the last twenty years or so many political and scholars designed to combat the problem of migration at both national and international level. This thesis aims to explain whether migration is becoming viewed as a security threat for the EU or it’s just a challenge. I will focus primarily on the issue of migration to the European Union. The theory of securitization has been used to examine the process whether the issue of migration has become seen as a threat to the European member states. In this study I will use case study methods to analyze the process of securitization of migration to the EU and support my arguments with official political data.

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Since the end of cold war, Europe have been suffering non-military security issues, such as migration, competing identity, which attract attention of Barry Buzan and Ole Waever who are named for Copenhagen School. They observer the evolution of new security issues and work out a specific explanatory concept Societal Security and Securitization to analysis why does societal security come out and become a serious issue in European. The main tasks of this thesis is try to figure out what does Societal Security and Securitization work and how to use these conceptual tool to analysis European migration issue, which are the basis for further reflection. After that, this article will also adduce critical opinion to demonstrate the deficiency of the theory of Societal Security and Securitization.

Zugl.: Frankfurt (Main), Univ., Diss., 2008

Zugl.: Würzburg, Univ., Diss., 2006

University, Diss., 2004--Mannheim.

Master-Arbeit Univ. St. Gallen, 2005.

Master-Arbeit Univ. St. Gallen, 2007.

Thesis (doctoral)--Hochschule St. Gallen für Wirtschafts-, Rechts- und Sozialwissenschaften, 2007.