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Global forced displacement is on the rise with 32.5 million people currently living as refugees, about half of whom are school-aged children and youth. Within this context, refugee inclusion in host country education systems has emerged as a growing policy priority in an effort to improve education access and quality. However, there is limited research on the impacts of the policy shift and many challenges remain. Addressing this gap, this dissertation examines the internal and external influences on host country refugee education policy decisions, the ways refugee inclusion in national education systems interacts with social cohesion, and the role of the global aid system in facilitating the inclusion of refugees. Data for this comparative case study across Lebanon and Turkey are based on 47 semi-structured interviews with education actors engaged in the response to the Syrian crisis at the global, regional, national, and local levels to examine the assumptions, influences, processes, and practices of refugee inclusion in national education systems. This dissertation is presented in three distinct papers. The first examines why policies of refugee inclusion were enacted, the timing of such reforms, and contextual reasons why reforms took the shape they did. Drawing on policy transfer scholarship, my findings reveal that some of the drivers to embrace global refugee policies include expectations for crisis resolution, calculation of political and economic risks and benefits, and the operational realities of their education systems. The second paper questions the logic that policies of inclusion necessarily support social cohesion and sustainable peace in refugee-hosting contexts. I apply the '4Rs' framework of Redistribution, Recognition, Representation, and Reconciliation (Novelli, Lopes Cardozo & Smith, 2017) to analyze the ways that education interventions in support of refugee inclusion have contributed to social tension in Lebanon and Turkey while providing and important opportunity to address longstanding issues of marginalization and exclusion beyond refugees. The final paper builds on constructivist international relations theory to explore the relationship between the global refugee education policy agenda, the interests of donor states, and what that means for international responsibility-sharing, a foundational component of the refugee inclusion movement. I argue that there is a complex relationship between efforts to include refugees in national education systems and the national interests of donor countries including discouraging onward migration, promoting stability and social cohesion in neighboring regions, and reinforcing global hierarchies in the international system. Findings across the three papers contribute to theoretical and empirical debates around refugee education and humanitarian and development action. I conclude by pulling together themes that run through the dissertation and discussing theoretical and empirical contributions across the three papers.

This thesis compares the visual representation of Syrian refugees during the 2015 refugee crisis and Ukrainian refugees during the Russian invasion 2022 in news outlets Dagens Nyheter, Svenska Dabladet and Aftonbladet. The aim of the study is thus to investigate how ethnic groups are framed in a photojournalistic setting. The theoretical concept otherness is used to analyze the selected visual images and the concept of visualities highlight how photographs published in the media communicate political messages and how images reflect immigration discourse. Additionally, photojournalistic regimes of visibility and responsibility are used to illuminate similarities and dissimilarities in the material. In total, 200 images made up the sample for the performed qualitative visual analysis. The findings reveal that empathetic portrayals dominate the Swedish narrative. Syrian refugees were overrepresented in imagery alluding to otherness painting a picture of Syrians as ethnic, cultural and dangerous others. Photography triggering social and political engagement were crucial in the forming of visualities, relating visual images to the political and public arena. The sampled images did reflect immigration discourses of intimidation and humanity.

The Syrian civil war has displaced upwards 13 million people and was a major part of what constituted the migration crisis in the European Union in the years leading up to the culmination in 2015. According to researchers, this event marks the decline of European solidarity as the European Union member states continued to pass the reception burden onto each other. However, the recent events in Ukraine have re-sparked the solidarity principle once again, as countries are lining up to receive the Ukrainian refugees. Starting a conversation whether there could be a difference between refugees and refugees. Based on a content analysis, this thesis investigates the differences in media framing of the Syrian refugee stream and the Ukrainian refugee stream within the Swedish context by analysing 30 articles from three of Sweden's biggest news outlets. The study identified four major key differences in framing of the two migrant groups namely, (1) the aspect of gender, since women, children and elderly constitute most of the Ukrainian refugees, they are perceived as less of a threat than the young men who came to Sweden due to the Syrian civil war. (2) A shift in the underlying meaning of the words “solidarity” and “crisis” when referring to the two groups. (3) A shift in media and political discourse from debate to action, and (4) the focus on illegal verses legal refugees due to the difference in legislation, where one group is protected from needing to use illegal routes to enter a European country whilst the other is not.

This thesis sheds some light on how cash and voucher assistance (CVA) can promote sustainable livelihood outcomes in protracted crisis settings, analyzing the case study of Northeast Syria. It aims to contribute to the design of CVA programming in Syria and similar contexts in a way that fosters sustainable livelihoods and advances self-sufficiency among affected populations. The two core concepts – CVA and livelihoods – are first conceptualized separately, followed by an extensive literature review, which provides an empirical perspective and identifies some channels through which CVA can promote sustainable livelihoods. Eight semi-structured interviews, representing the views of a donor agency, INGOs, the humanitarian coordination architecture, and a CVA network of practitioners, then provide in-depth insights into Northeast Syria specifically. While this thesis identifies four CVA instruments that are implemented by humanitarian organizations to promote livelihoods in Northeast Syria, it equally finds that the context is characterized by structural barriers which cannot be addressed by humanitarian CVA alone. To tackle structural barriers and account for the paradigm shift the Syrian crisis is undergoing, the international community needs to adjust its funding approach in a way that promotes longer-term thinking and sustainable livelihoods both in Syria and other protracted crisis settings.

This research explores the causes and incentivizing factors behind the irregular migration of Syrian asylum seekers to Sweden. The study highlights the opinions from 9 Syrian asylum seekers with previous irregular migration experiences to Sweden. The results show that Syria’s conscription law (the compulsory military service), Sweden’s liberalized asylum policies, and lacking social networks in the state of destination were the main determinant contributing factors for irregular migration. For participants obtaining a passport required completing the military service period however the participants rejected the military service, as a result, they lacked passports, consequently, their regular routes were limited. The liberalized asylum regime in Sweden in terms of its lenient procedures towards irregular migration attracted the participants to migrate irregularly. Likewise, lacking social networks at the destination state decreased the employment chances for the participants and as a result, the work permits and regular pathways through the labor market were limited.

A comparative study on how Swedish media portrayed Syrian refugees in 2015 compared to how the same media portrayed Ukrainian refugees in 2022. This paper presents a thematic analysis of seventynine newspaper articles published in 2015 and 2022 by the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet. The comparison was made to see if the chosen articles portrayed these different groups of refugees differently, and I later engage in a discussion based on the results of the analysis. The thematic analysis showed a difference between the cases in how different themes manifested, as well as what themes were given more space in each case. The discussion later provides a set of different alternative explanations on why these differences exist – engaging with different theories and explanations as to why these cases had such a different impact on and given different portrayals by the Swedish media.

The Syrian civil war and the subsequent displacement crisis it caused, changed the international community’s understanding of forced migration in the contemporary context. Even more than a decade after the conflict began, over half the population of Syria remains displaced indicating the continued importance of this crisis. The literature has overwhelmingly focused on those Syrians who crossed international borders. However, those who remain internally displaced, and the patterns that their displacement within Syria has taken, provide insightful information on the drivers of forced migration more widely. By looking at subnational variation in migration patterns, this study seeks to answer the question: what explains patterns of internal forced displacement within Syria? I argue that the patterns seen throughout the Syrian civil war are an outcome of state policies that push displacement in certain populations and regions of the country as a method of helping ensure regime victory. These tactics go beyond common decision-making explanations, putting culpability for displacement back onto government actors. A qualitative examination of strategies employed by the Syrian regime during the civil war as well as a spatial and temporal analysis of IDP movements within Syria between 2016 and 2019 show evidence for the tactics used by the regime that have driven Syrian internal displacement.

The relationship between religion and politics is a controversial issue. It is one of the most difficult issues in many regions of the world. The social impact resulting from politicized religious movements is complicated, especially in countries where religion plays a pivotal role in formulating politics, such as in Syria and some other Middle Eastern countries.  One of the issues of great sensitivity in some societies, especially those with active religious movements and parties, is religious and/or political representation. Each religious group claims to have a profound social depth. These claims are supported by large segments of people. Rival groups, however, may have different opinions. Some politico-religious organizations claim that they are the only representatives of certain groups of people and thus, claim legitimacy on the ground of such representation. This applies to the Muslim Brothers in Syria (SMB), who claim representation of certain segments of the Syrian society, mainly the Sunni Muslims.  This thesis attempts to research the issue of the representation of the Muslim Brotherhood with the focus on Syria.

This thesis analyzes Iran-Saudi relations in the context of growing regional hostility. This research encompasses the domestic and foreign policies enacted by both states since 1979, accompanying a discussion of the historical background of their ties. Moreover, the future prospects of their relations regarding the utilization of Oman as a neutral negotiator for regional conflicts are examined. The significant contributing factors of each state to such dynamic ties include: the leadership, national security, religion-politics connection, and their reaction to global instability indicators. Recently, Iran-Saudi hostility has been worsening due to their policies in the region in reaction to regional events. Thus, some may argue that the outlook of success for Omani role in negotiating between the two is seemingly less likely. The relations of these two Persian Gulf regional powers need to be examined further for future prospects.