Maritta Soininen

The ‘Swedish model’ as an institutional framework for immigrant membership rights

Abstract This article reviews some major changes in the Swedish governments understanding of the membership rights of immigrants in Swedish society over the last three decades. Embedded in the ‘Swedish models’ institutional preconditions, the 1970s innovative view expresses a promise of multicultural group rights for immigrants in addition to social and political rights, but barely a decade later the government modified its position and moved closer to existing international praxis in the area. Since the 1980s, the development of immigrant social and political membership in Sweden has given cause for concern and has led to further shifts that put a stronger emphasis on individual rights as the basis for immigrant membership entitlements. These developments are, of course, subordinate to the significant changes within the Swedish institutional framework, not least because of the increased internationalisation of Sweden and individualisation of Swedish society.

A model for immigrants? The Swedish corporate model and the prevention of ethnic discrimination

Abstract Swedens immigrant policy has often been presented as an ideal in terms of the formal rights and protection it grants immigrants. Yet Sweden did not have a comprehensive law against ethnic discrimination in the labour market until 1994. This article argues that the reason for the delay in legislating against ethnic discrimination and the nature of the eventual legislation lie in the way that the Swedish policy‐making process has traditionally worked. The article raises doubts about whether the corporate models ability to protect specific immigrant interests is inherently superior to that of other policy‐making models. We suggest that the Swedish corporate model, because of its fundamentally class‐based nature, has not proved adequate to the task of dealing with the ethnically‐based interests of immigrants.

Electoral participation among immigrants in Sweden: Integration, culture and participation

Abstract Modern states claim to be democratic. However, foreign citizens who are legal residents are denied voting and other political rights. In 1975, Sweden granted voting rights in local elections to all foreign citizens who had been resident in Sweden for three years. However, only a small majority, 60 per cent, of the enfranchised foreign citizens voted in the 1976 elections. In 1991, the figure was as low as 41 per cent. One of the two main questions discussed here is how integration into ones own group and integration into the majority society affect electoral participation. The second question takes up differences in cultural orientations between immigrant groups and how these are related to voting behaviour. This is done with the help of Mary Douglas’ theory of group and grid, as developed by Thompson, Ellis and Wildavsky. The empirical data was collected through interviews with four different immigrant groups in the city of Malmo, Southern Sweden. The central explanatory variables, expressed in...