The Critical 2015-2016 Turning Point of the Geopolitics of Seeking Refuge and Asylum in Sweden
The Critical 2015-2016 Turning Point of the Geopolitics of Seeking Refuge and Asylum in Sweden

Author(s): Fanny Christou
Subject(s): Geopolitics, Asylum, Refugees, Migration as Policy-fields
Published by: Transnational Press London
Keywords: Critical; Geopolitics; Seeking Refuge; Asylum; Sweden;
Summary/Abstract: Sweden has a long history of migration, and after the World War II, migrants from Germany and other Nordic / Baltic countries made up the bulk of post-war immigrants (Swedish Institute, 2021; Skodo, 2018; Åslund et al., 2017). Many migrants from Finland, Italy, Greece, the former Yugoslavia, other Balkan countries, and Turkey then came looking for job opportunities in Sweden once World War II was over. The 1980-1990s mark another important immigration wave in Sweden with a rise of asylum seekers from countries like Chile (following the refugee waves caused by Augusto Pinochet’s regime during 1973–1990), Iran and Iraq (due to the 1980-1989 war), the Balkans, Lebanon, Turkey, Eritrea, and Somalia. With the border opening to other European Union member states when Sweden joined the Schengen co-operation in 2001, people from countries outside of the EU but also from the European Economic Area (EEA) moved to Sweden for work, with the country’s booming start-up and technology industry.

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