Institutions and Organizations of Refugee Integration

"This important and necessary book investigates the lived effects of immigrant integration policies in Sweden. Through an emphasis on including refugees' own voice, the book offers a much-needed supplement to the literature on integration. The authors provide significant insight into how institutions of integration are evaluated by those who must navigate within them. Although the book focuses on the Swedish context, the findings go beyond Sweden and will be an inspiring read for not only scholars but also practitioners and policy-makers." -Martin Bak Jørgensen, Associate Professor, Aalborg University, Denmark

This book examines the integration experiences of refugees to Sweden from Bosnia and Herzegovina (1992-1995), and more recently from Syria (2014-2018) - two of the largest-scale refugee movements in Europe for the last thirty years.

It focuses on refugees' interactions with key institutions of integration including language training, civic orientation, validation of previous educational experience, organizations and multiple labour market initiatives targeting refugees. Drawing on interviews with the refugees themselves, it offers a nuanced analysis of how the institutions of integration operate on a daily basis, and the effects they have on the lives of those who take part in them. The authors' comparative approach highlights the particularities of each refugee movement while also revealing developments and persistent issues within institutions of integration in the intervening years between the Bosnian-Herzegovinian and Syrian conflicts.

Its conclusion, which situates the Swedish case within the broader European context, demonstrates the wider significance of this timely study. It will provide a valuable resource for policymakers in addition to students and scholars of migration studies, social policy, and public policy and business administration.

Auteur
Gregg Bucken-Knapp is Professor of Public Administration at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. Vedran Omanovic is Assistant Professor in the School of Business, Economics and Law at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. Andrea Spehar is Associate Professor of Political Science and Director of the Centre on Global Migration at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden.

Résumé

This book examines the integration experiences of refugees to Sweden from Bosnia and Herzegovina (1992-1995), and more recently from Syria (2014-2018) - two of the largest-scale refugee movements in Europe for the last thirty years.

It focuses on refugees' interactions with key institutions of integration including language training, civic orientation, validation of previous educational experience, organizations and multiple labour market initiatives targeting refugees. Drawing on interviews with the refugees themselves, it offers a nuanced analysis of how the institutions of integration operate on a daily basis, and the effects they have on the lives of those who take part in them. The authors' comparative approach highlights the particularities of each refugee movement while also revealing developments and persistent issues within institutions of integration in the intervening years between the Bosnian-Herzegovinian and Syrian conflicts.

Its conclusion, which situates the Swedish case within the broader European context, demonstrates the wider significance of this timely study. It will provide a valuable resource for policymakers in addition to students and scholars of migration studies, social policy, and public policy and business administration.

Contenu
Chapter One. Introduction: Conceptualizing Migrant and Refugee IntegrationChapter Two. Two Waves of Refugee Reception: Bosnian and Herzegovinian's in the 1990s, Syrians in the 2010s and the Swedish Institutional ContextChapter Three. The Voices of Refugees as a MethodChapter Four. The First Years of Bosnian and Herzegovinian Refugees in Sweden in the 1990sChapter Five. The First Years of Syrian Refugees in Sweden in the 2010sChapter Six. Refugee Integration in Sweden: Some Key Lessons and a Way Forward