This thesis examines two proposals, Särskilda åtgärder vid allvarlig fara för den allmänna ordningen och inre säkerheten i landet (2015/16:67) och Tillfälliga begränsningar av möjligheten att få uppehållstillstånd (2015/16:174), in light of the concept of securitization, and analyze the effects the resulting provisions to the law and the government bill may have on displaced people. The theoretical framework used for analysis is primarily the theory of securitization in international relations and secondarily the perspective of human security. The analysis of the proposals shows that the Swedish Government considers the inflow of a high amount of asylum seekers as a threat to national security, and the special measures are in need to ensure public order and national internal security. This points to the fact that asylum seekers it to be considered as securitized. Additionally the proposals confirms that asylum seekers is to be seen as a security issue threatening specific societal structures. Hence the need of id-checks. The proposed legislation concerning limiting residence permits is viewed, both from a majority of the national consultative bodies and the Government itself, as affecting asylum seekers in various negative ways. The conclusion of the analysis is that the combination of legislating identity checks and proposing legislation to limit residence permits indicates a more significant shift in Sweden's migration policy than has been evident in the public sphere. Policies has gradually changed from defending rights and guarding safety for fleeing human beings to primarily focus on protecting the nation and guarding the citizens. Furthermore, this study accentuates a previously obscure phenomenon in Swedish migration policy. A Swedish government has proposed legislation based on protecting the Swedish society from severe threats from people in need of security and protection, which the Swedish parliament has passed as a law.

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Although the United Kingdom is committed to the protection of refugees and the integration of migrants into society, many aspects of the asylum system actually prevent access to refuge or create barriers to integration. Extant research on this topic has often paid little attention to the role of discourse in legitimising particular asylum policies and notions of integration or has otherwise neglected the social functions of asylum seeker and refugee discourse. This thesis addressed these gaps by exploring the discourse of majority group members and asylum seekers / refugees, paying attention to the relationship between place and identity and the ways that notions of intercultural contact were constructed. Semi-structured interviews were undertaken with seventeen people who work to support asylum seekers and refugees, fifteen asylum seekers / refugees and thirteen Scottish locals who reside in the areas where asylum seekers are housed. The data were analysed using discourse analysis, focusing on the ways that particular narratives and descriptions function to justify or criticise certain policies or sets of social relations. The analysis illustrated that the presence of asylum seekers could be justified through portraying their countries of origin as dangerous and the host society as problem-free, whereas the presence of asylum seekers was resisted through portraying the host society as ‘full’. When discussing antagonism towards asylum seekers, interviewees constructed this as stemming from ‘ignorance’, which functioned to portray the behaviour as unwarranted while emphasising the potential for positive social change. Similarly, asylum seekers’ and refugees’ accounts of violence tended to deny or downplay racial motivation, or produce accusations of racism in a tentative or reluctant manner, implying that a ‘taboo’ on racial accusations exists even in cases of violence. The analysis also illustrated how constructions of ‘integration’ perform social actions, such as highlighting the responsibility of asylum seekers or the host society. The analysis showed how the refugee status determination process could be criticised through references to a ‘culture of disbelief’, claims that it was racist or portrayals of cultural differences that undermine the process. The right of asylum seekers to work was advocated through portraying it as consistent with the national interest. Aspects of the asylum system related to destitution, detention and deportation were criticised through portraying them as ‘tools’ that treated asylum seekers inhumanely and by constructing asylum seekers in humane ways such as ‘families’ or as ‘human’. Overall the results illustrated that, in the context of asylum seekers, notions of identity and place are linked so that constructions of place constitute identity, in the sense of portraying people as legitimately in need of refuge, and these constructions can work to justify or criticise asylum policies. Results also illustrated that victims of seemingly racist violence may construct their accounts in ways that deny or downplay racial motivations, making racist behaviour difficult to identify and challenge. The analyses suggested that ‘two-way’ constructions of integration may function to overcome the view that asylum seekers have ‘special privileges’ over other members of the community and emphasise the responsibilities of the host society. Portraying punitive asylum policies as ‘inhumane’, and constructing asylum seekers in humane ways, provides a potential strategy for reforming aspects of the asylum system.

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.

Eighty-seven single custodial fathers were surveyed to test the validity of previously developed typologies and/or construct a more empirically valid framework with implications for adjustment to the role. Mendes1 (1975) aggressive seekers, conciliatory seekers, conciliatory assenters, and aggressive assenters were compared to O'Brien's (1980) hostile seekers, conciliatory negotiators, and passive acceptors. In addition to demographic variables, relationship to ex-wife and child, and reasons for becoming single and obtaining custody, several personality variables were included along with measures of adjustment. One year follow-up measures of adjustment were collected to evaluate implications of typologies in adjustment. Two nearly equal groups were established in a Q type factor analysis of continuous data. Factor loadings of individual cases suggest a continuum of the two types of single fathers, rather than two distinct groups. Group differences were evaluated in a series of MANOVA and Chisquare analyses. Analysis included six factor scores from a supplemental R factor analysis of selected variables. Type I fathers are characterized as older, more passive, selfreflective, and aloof in interpersonal relationships. They are somewhat less oriented toward a relationship with their children and had felt satisfied with their wives* care of them. Alternatively, Type II fathers are younger, active, assured (not self-reflective), and person-oriented. They are more oriented toward relationship with their children and had felt dissatisfied with how their wives had cared for their children. Several overlapping characteristics of the Type I/II typology with Mendes1 seeker/assenter continuum are discussed. Limitations of the longitudinal adjustment data restrict the conclusions that can be drawn about differential adjustment of Types I and II. Comparisons with adjustment of other typologies suggest that extremes on the typology continuum are most at risk for problems in adjustment to the single custodial role. Implications for helping professions and future research are discussed.

Magister Artium (Development Studies) - MA(DVS) / This study took place in Bishop Lavis, a small community in Cape Town on the Cape Flats, Republic of South Africa. Stratified random sampling was used to select ten unemployed youths that resided in the area. The problem that prompted this investigation and that needed to be addressed was the high unemployment rate amongst the youth and how their aspirations and capabilities contribute to their state of well-being. This community is subjected to extreme poverty, inequality and gangsterism. This places a heavy burden on their ability to escape deprivation and the harsh realities of not ever being able to find a job. These inferior conditions in the community impact heavily on their quality of life. As the youths develop into maturity, their inability to enter the labour market deprives them of aligning their dreams, capabilities and aspirations to the new demands of the labour market. The study is based on the Capability Approach and it is used as an evaluative tool to assess the aspirations and capabilities of the participants. The objective of the study was to bring us closer to understanding how aspirations are developed and whether such aspirations can assist the youths in transforming their capabilities into a functioning. What we learned from this study was that the aspirations of youths failed to develop from an early age and their responsiveness to opportunities has to do with their value system and adaptation to their environment. This qualitative study required consent from the participants and ethical approval from UWC research structures. Through semi-structured interviews, information about the participants’ capabilities and aspirations were recorded and analysed. Based on this analysis and evaluation, new assessment model and assessment tools are proposed as an intervention strategy for policymakers.

This thesis is based on an analysis of the life testimonies about homelessness and displacement told by the Cameroonian refugee community in Johannesburg. It seeks to understand not only the experiences and the conditions of migrancy within a specific group of involuntarily displaced persons in an African city but also how these experiences are constructed and reconstructed ‘in the telling’. The main thrust of the thesis is a discourse analysis of the oral narratives and stories that Cameroonian asylum seekers and refugees living in the city of Johannesburg tell about themselves, their past, present and future, their journey to exile and their aspirations, memories of home and sense of identity as forced migrants in a global era. The data for this study was gleaned from a series of interviews with twenty Cameroonian forced migrants and the interviews are used in this thesis as my primary texts. The analysis focuses primarily on the narrative construction of migrant experiences, exploring how Cameroonian forced migrants use varied narrative strategies and patterns to articulate broader exilic discourses such as the construction of memory, identity and spaces. Therefore, through the testimonies collected and recorded from my informants, I was able to access individual lives as well as the subjective and collective experiences of Cameroonian forced migrants, and explore how they interpret and construct these experiences. Also, the testimonies provided a platform from which to examine how Cameroonian forced migrants narrativise exilic experiences, construct identities, remember the past and represent diasporic spaces. The study has produced a number of significant outcomes. Firstly, the testimonies tend to represent exile as a place that provides solutions for the predicaments of displaced persons. Secondly, the study also reveals that migrant narratives can be multidimensional and multi-functional if individual experiences and element of time are taken into account. This is evident from the multiple, shifting and somewhat contesting narratives produced by different respondents. Thirdly, because of these narrative features, the testimonies are often affected by the logic of ambivalence, emerging from the constant subversion and undermining of the same narratives using different narrative patterns, metaphors, images and symbols. Finally, the multiplicity, subversion and the shifts of the narratives therefore draw our attention to the fact that testimonies from the same refugee community have the potentials of generating different interpretations of shared experiences of displacement.

There is symbiosis between theatre and belonging. This thesis examines the ways in which a sense of belonging can be more effectively facilitated for adult refugees, asylum seekers, migrants and their families through drama practices rooted in a relational ethic of care. Findings engendered by practice-based research projects in the London Boroughs of Hackney, Barking and Dagenham and Redbridge are articulated by this thesis. These projects, carried out between 2008 and 2010, were framed as creative approaches to English language learning and were developed in partnership with the charities Lifeline Projects and the Open Doors Project. They modelled access for all regardless of age or English speaking ability, focusing on participant-centred play and improvisation. At the beginning of the twenty-first century, the impact of UK government policy on the lived experience of refugees, asylum seekers and migrants and their negative representation across different media has resulted in a need to develop alternative strategies for support that work in conjunction with agencies and voluntary sector organisations and fulfil a need for a sense of belonging from their clients. My methodologies have included practice-based research, interviews with participants and other practitioners and reading across the fields of performance studies, relational ethics, psychology and education. I identify ‘practice’ in practice-based research as professional practice consonant with the fields of health and social care. The theoretical frameworks I am working within include: Brown’s (2010) definition of genuine belonging; Pettersen’s (2008) mature, reciprocal care; Maslow’s (1954) hierarchy of need; Krashen’s (1983) theory of adult second language acquisition and Thompson’s (2009) argument for the radical potential of joy and beauty. The thesis addresses the need for a greater understanding of the practices which generate authentic belonging in drama and second language education outside a formal education context.

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This thesis explores the co-production of public services in the case of asylum seekers in Glasgow. It makes contributions on the theoretical and empirical levels. First, it integrates two theoretical standpoints on co-production from the public administration/management and services management literatures. This integration forms the basis for the development of an original conceptual framework which differentiates three modes of co-production at the level of the individual service user: consumer co-production; participative co-production; and enhanced co-production. The thesis then extends co-production to consider organizational modes, considering specifically the role of voluntary and community organizations (VCOs) in the production of services. This discussion contributes to the expansion of the conceptual framework, by introducing the concepts of co-management and co-governance to refer to VCOs co-production in service delivery and in service planning and delivery, respectively. The result is the development of a ‘Typology of Co-production’ which differentiates all five types of co-production according to who co-produces public services and when. These two conceptual frameworks are used to explore the case of asylum seekers and the social welfare services they receive in Glasgow. The case of asylum seekers is particularly interesting given the marginal nature of the group and their legal position as non-citizens. This serves to sharpen the focus on co-production. Three research questions emerged from the theoretical work which are explored in the case of asylum seekers: to what extent is co-production dependent upon citizenship? Can co-production act as a conduit to build social inclusiveness and citizenship? And is individual service user co-production a prerequisite for co-production and partnership working by public service organizations? The study took a mixed methods approach, consisting of policy/practice interviews, a small survey of public service organizations providing services to asylum seekers and an embedded case study design of Glasgow, which involved a series of interviews, observations and document analysis. The empirical context provided a fertile ground to explore and better understand the five types of co-production differentiated in the theory. It further suggests that citizenship is not a prerequisite for each mode of co-production and also that the co-production of public services can positively impact the lives of asylum seekers, particularly around issues of integration.