Labor Migration and Migration Policy

Across Europe, the prospect of a rapidly shrinking workforce has put increased labor migration back on the political agenda. However, for many on the left, concerns exist that less restrictive labor migration policies threaten core features of the social democratic project. This is perhaps clearest in Sweden, which in late 2008 adopted a liberal approach to third-country national labor migration, allowing employers to hire freely from outside the European Union. Defending the Swedish Model explores the debate leading up to this reform, focusing on the preferences of the Swedish Social Democratic Party (SAP) and the Swedish Trade Union Confederation (LO). While generally positive to the economic potential of increased labor migration, these allies remained highly skeptical towards calls from employers and bourgeois parties for liberalization. Bucken-Knapp argues that the SAP and LO develop their labor migration policy preferences on the basis of whether specific reform alternatives are perceived as being consistent with, or as undermining, the Swedish model. In the case of third-country nationals, both allies considered liberalization a threat to full employment aims, instead seeking to preserve an influential role for the state labor market board and organized labor. Bucken-Knapp also focuses on the Swedish labor migration debate prior to the 2004 enlargement of the European Union, showing how SAP concerns over potential abuse of the universal welfare state led to its support for transitional arrangements. Defending the Swedish Model illuminates the challenges faced by social democrats and trade unions when considering the need for increased labor migration

Largely the Same Policy, But Largely Different Ideas: The Ideational Underpinnings of the Norwegian and Swedish Bans on the Purchase of Sexual Services

Norway and Sweden have both criminalized the purchase of sexual services. Some scholars attribute the sex purchase ban in Norway to the successful lobbying of feminist activists. Examining the prostitution policy reform processes in both countries, this article argues that Norway’s turn to criminalization responded to public outrage over the sudden arrival of Nigerian prostitutes in downtown Oslo, construing the problem of prostitution as cross-border trafficking. By contrast, the earlier sex purchase ban in Sweden resulted chiefly from policy entrepreneurs successfully deploying gender equality ideas, in conjunction with causal stories about the abuse suffered by female prostitutes

Ideology and Entry Policy: Why Non-Socialist Parties in Sweden Support Open Door Migration Policies

While the continued growth of far-right populist parties across Europe has led to a rich body of literature detailing the impact of anti-immigrant parties on entry policies, less attention has been directed towards analyzing how mainstream non-socialist parties formulate their migration policy preferences. In this paper, we seek to correct this imbalance by addressing the case of Sweden. The conventional wisdom frequently portrays non-socialist parties as proponents of restrictive entry policies for labor migrants and asylum seekers. However, we show that center-right parties and the Greens have largely been the driving force behind key Swedish migration policy developments over the past several decades, allowing greater numbers of migrants to enter and settle permanently. Our analysis shows that non-socialist support for generous entry policies is largely consistent over time, regardless of efforts by far-right populist parties, or the socialist left, to see more restrictive entry policies enacted. To account for this stance, we focus on the role of party ideology as the missing factor. While vote maximization and inter-party competition have their place in accounts of entry policy preference formation, a more nuanced analysis requires examining the role of ideology. Long-held ideological principles help parties evaluate societal change, leading them to formulate generous entry policies in the face of pressure from both the left and the right for stricter migration policies

Just a train-ride away, but still worlds apart: Prospects for the Oresund region as a binational city

This article considers whether the cities of Copenhagen, Denmark and Malmö, Sweden, recently joined by the Øresund bridge, ought to be considered as one binational city. Working from the assumption that the project of constructing this binational city is a top-down endeavor whose success ultimately rests on the degree of support it receives from regional inhabitants, I focus on public opinion survey data collected one year after the opening of the bridge. Analysis shows that there are sharp national differences in the amount of support for the construction of a binational greater metropolitan region. I discuss how these differences may lead to an asymmetrical development for the emerging binational city, with Malmö eclipsed by the Danish capital Copenhagen, as well as how the heavily multi-cultural population of Malmö can impact Danish-Swedish cooperation on the Øresund

Varieties of capitalism and labor migration policy

Faced with a declining workforce, why does the Swedish Social Democratic Party (SAP) oppose employer proposals for increased labor migration from non-EU countries? This article explores whether perspectives on policymaking in the varieties of capitalism (VoC) literature can account for this puzzle. VoC scholars maintain that policymakers prefer reforms conforming to the national political economy, improving firm capacity and ensuring better economic performance. Employers are also thought to support policies incentivecompatible with the prevailing model of capitalism. My analysis shows that while the SAP backed labor migration policies compatible with the Swedish coordinated market economy, it did not do so for reasons of efficiency or economic performance. The SAP fears that liberal reform, preferred by employers, will damage the Swedish model, undermine active labor market policies and weaken unions. The case of Swedish labor migration policy underscores how economic reform reflects political conflict and not the desire to preserve equilibrium

Trouble in paradise? Europe in the 21st century

Trouble in Paradise? Europe in the 21st Century, Steven Philip Kramer and Irene Kyriakopoulos (Washington, DC: National Defense University Press, 1996)Output Type: Book Revie

Varieties of capitalism and labor migration policy

Faced with a declining workforce, why does the Swedish Social Democratic Party (SAP) oppose employer proposals for increased labor migration from non-EU countries? This article explores whether perspectives on policymaking in the varieties of capitalism (VoC) literature can account for this puzzle. VoC scholars maintain that policymakers prefer reforms conforming to the national political economy, improving firm capacity and ensuring better economic performance. Employers are also thought to support policies incentivecompatible with the prevailing model of capitalism. My analysis shows that while the SAP backed labor migration policies compatible with the Swedish coordinated market economy, it did not do so for reasons of efficiency or economic performance. The SAP fears that liberal reform, preferred by employers, will damage the Swedish model, undermine active labor market policies and weaken unions. The case of Swedish labor migration policy underscores how economic reform reflects political conflict and not the desire to preserve equilibrium

Messages from Ukraine

On February 24, 2022, Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine that dominated headlines around the world. Millions of Ukrainians would flee the country, and a third of the population would be displaced. In the days following the invasion, Swedish migration expert Gregg Bucken-Knapp sent text messages to his Ukrainian colleagues, offering support and assistance. These were their responses. In a series of graphic vignettes, Messages from Ukraine takes the words of Ukrainian migration professionals and transforms them into snapshots of how war affects the lives of everyday people: those who are forced to flee home and seek safety elsewhere, those who choose to stay and volunteer or fight, those who witness events unfolding from afar, and those who find themselves trapped in cities under siege. Messages from Ukraine captures a moment in time to tell a timeless story about war, displacement, determination, and resilience. Proceeds from the sale of Messages from Ukraine will go to the Canada-Ukraine Foundation, a national charitable foundation that provides humanitarian aid to the people of Ukraine