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Can the Welfare State Justify Restrictive Asylum Policies? A Critical Approach

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Abstract

Liberal egalitarians tend to be committed both to generous asylum policies and generous, universal welfare states. Yet there may be political, social and economic reasons why there is a conflict in realising both. Asylum seekers may create economic pressures to the welfare state, or undermine national solidarity supposedly necessary to support redistribution. In this paper, I discuss how political theorists should approach these empirical concerns. I take issue with the view that theorists can simply move between ‘realism’ and ‘idealism’ by accepting more or less of reality. Instead, political theorists should seek to offer a critical description of the conflict, which can reveal structures of power that ought to be subject to normative scrutiny. To this end, I discuss two accounts of how the welfare state may justify asylum restrictions in relation to the case of Sweden, a universal welfare state that has recently introduced restrictions on asylum to protect the welfare state. I argue along these accounts that the welfare state is both an important source of political and social order and a foundation of the personal moral experience. Yet a critical analysis also illustrates how these claims weaken as underlying methodological nationalism and bias towards existing power structures are brought to light. Asylum restrictions cannot be justified if they contribute to perpetuating these power structures, which cause some of the conflict with the welfare state in the first place.

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Notes

  1. See Nils Holtug (2017) for an excellent analysis of this alleged relationship.

  2. The focus here is on the welfare state as a reason for restricting asylum policies, which was a strong factor in bringing about the policy change. However, that was not the only reason why restrictions were implemented. It could be argued that an increasing threat from the extreme right was another reason; there is no room to assess the importance of these various reasons here.

  3. To view the poster, visit for example: http://news.cision.com/se/socialdemokrater-for-tro-och-solidaritet/r/s-kampanj-kritiseras-for-rasistiska-undertoner,c2369428 (Accessed 2018-07-31)

  4. This was discussed in a research interview with a Swedish Social Democrat in 2018.

  5. Another example of how the difference between the realist and idealist approaches often amount to disagreement about descriptions of reality, is the conceptual realist view of politics as inherently and primarily conflictual, leading to their normative recommendation to make order and stability overriding values. This has been criticised by Miller (2016c), a methodological realist, for exaggerating the level of disagreement in many modern societies, putting forward a reductive account of politics and human motivation as always pulling towards conflict.

  6. See also a discussion by Mihaela Mihai (unpublished manuscript).

  7. Whilst I refer to these areas a ‘immigrant-dense’, the composition of the immigrants tends to be dominated by refugees or the relatives of refugees.

  8. https://www.sydsvenskan.se/2018-06-03/over-halften-klarar-inte-skolan-i-utsatta-omraden

  9. Arguably, the Swedish state has failed on both these accounts when implementing recent asylum restrictions. Given the absence of a global or regional responsibility-sharing refugee scheme, there are no acceptable alternatives for refugees who would otherwise have found asylum in Sweden. And the Social Democrats initially justified restrictions by claiming that they would be used to increase Sweden’s long-term asylum capacity, they now seek to make the restrictions permanent.

  10. https://www.expressen.se/gt/min-son-riskerar-att-dodas-med-en-penna/

  11. https://www.dn.se/nyheter/politik/l-vill-ha-obligatorisk-forskola-for-nyanlanda/

  12. https://www.socialdemokraterna.se/aktuellt/2018/forbud-mot-religiosa-friskolor/

  13. For a postcolonial critique of the Swedish welfare state and how views on inequality inspired by America neglected racial and colonial inequalities, see Bhambra and Holmwood (2018).

  14. It is also only plausible if one assumes the ‘container view’ whereby states’ policies do not affect those of other states. This neglects how most states partake in a ‘race to the bottom’ in asylum policies, pushing refugees closer and closer to conflict areas.

  15. http://www.hallandsposten.se/%C3%A5sikter/ledare/debatten-ska-inte-avg%C3%B6ra-vem-som-f%C3%A5r-stanna-1.4782250

  16. Such reforms may include making public services more flexible to cater for different cultures, such as allowing or funding a variety of schools and care homes. This is particularly relevant for a universal welfare state like the Swedish one, where private alternatives are restricted. Kymlicka (2015: 12) has also made some suggestions to this end, though with more focus on citizenship.

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Acknowledgments

This research was generously funded by the Leverhulme Trust. Many thanks to the editor, Christine Straehle, for very helpful comments on an earlier version. The paper also benefited from the constructive comments of the two anonymous reviewers.

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  1. The Department of Politics, The University of Sheffield, Elmfield, Northumberland Road, Sheffield, S10 2TU, UK

    Clara Sandelind

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Sandelind, C. Can the Welfare State Justify Restrictive Asylum Policies? A Critical Approach. Ethic Theory Moral Prac 22, 331–346 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10677-019-09989-3

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