municipal responses to national refugee settlement
TRANSCRIPT
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UPPSATSER: Kulturgeografiska institutionen
Municipal responses to national refugee settlement policies
A case study of two welcoming municipalities in Sweden
Julia Jokiaho
ABSTRACT Jokiaho, J. 2020. Municipal responses to national refugee settlement policies, A case study of two welcoming municipalities in Sweden. Kulturgeografiska institutionen, Uppsatser, Uppsala universitet. This thesis investigates two Swedish municipalities that have vocalised a discontent with Sweden’s recent “Settlement Act,” arguing that they would like to receive more refugees than the national policy allows. Making it an interesting case of decision-making processes within governance studies. In the center of this thesis, public officials’ influence in the policy process of migration and refugee settlement is investigated, given that this focus has previously been neglected in studies concerning migration policy. As such, the primary purpose of this study is to describe and analyse how public officials potentially influence the policy process, alongside a secondary task of investigating how municipalities react towards a more restrictive national policy regarding refugee settlement and what governance arrangements this can lead to. The study uses a qualitative research method, drawing upon documents from the municipalities and twelve interviews with both public officials and politicians. The study finds that public officials influence the policy process within two dimensions of power: agenda-setting and decision-making. Furthermore, it is found that local governments react towards the more restrictive national policy with a localist approach, by formulating policies of their own, using “vertical venue shopping” to influence upper levels of government, and arguing that local problems need local solutions. Nonetheless, the thesis demonstrates that these attempts to influence upper levels of government do not succeed, with no signs of the national government changing its policy in response. Thus, it is argued that with specific regards to refugee settlement, it seems as though Swedish policy-making is becoming increasingly top-down, with limited opportunities for local governments to influence national policy.
Keywords: Public officials, Power, Multilevel Governance, Migration policy, Refugee Settlement. Supervisor: Micheline Van Riemsdijk
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. INTRODUCTION 1
1.1 Aim and research questions 3
1.2 Disposition 4
2. PREVIOUS RESEARCH 5
2.1 Public officials’ influence at the local level 5
2.2 Public officials’ influence within public administration of migration 6
2.3 Multi-Level Governance of Migration 7
3. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK 10
3.1 Definition of power 10
3.2 Three faces of Power 11
3.3 Framework of multilevel governance 12
3.4 Operationalization 14
4. METHOD 16
4.1 Research design 16
4.2 Choice of method 16
4.3 Possible limitations 18
5. FINDINGS 19
5.1 Agenda-setting power 19
5.2 Public officials and the municipalities’ political agendas 25
5.3 Decision-making power 26
5.4 Ideological power 30
5.5 Politicians’ frame precedes the public officials’ 35
5.6 Implications for Multilevel Governance 37
6. DISCUSSION 39
7. CONCLUSION 42
8. REFERENCE LIST 44
9. APPENDIX 49
Acknowledgments
I would like to thank Micheline Van Riemsdijk for being an excellent supervisor throughout
the process of writing this thesis. Besides my supervisor, I would like to thank all of the
professors at the department of Social and Economic Geography for these three intellectual
years, culminating with the writing of this thesis. I would like to thank Gunnar Myrberg and
Jon Nyhlen at the Department of Government for the valuable consultation in the initiation
phase of this thesis and Mila Stieglitz-Courtney for the valuable proofreading. Additionally, I
would like to thank all the public officials and politicians that have contributed to this study
through interviews, and the extremely competent public officials working at the
municipalities archives who have helped me retrieve municipal documents - this research
project would have been impossible without your participation. Lastly, I would like to thank
my family for all the intellectual discussions throughout the years, and especially my beloved
sister who passed away five months before writing this thesis.
To Fanny.
1. INTRODUCTION
International migration has increased considerably over the last fifty years (Rosenblum &
Tichenor, 2012), with the Syrian war and other conflicts contributing to increased migrant
flows to Europe and entailing large social, economic and political challenges for both Sweden
and the European Union more generally (Andersson et al., 2016). In the study of migration,
there has been an increased interest in the local dimension (see; Alexander, 2003; Alexander,
2007; Caponia & Bokert, 2010; Campomori & Caponio, 2017; Poppelaars & Scholten, 2008;
Scholten, Collett & Petrovic, 2017; Zapata-Barrero et al., 2017), as local municipalities
throughout Europe are responsible for managing the more practical implementation of
emerging migration-related needs, such as finding accommodation or receiving and
integrating refugees (Castles et al., 2014). In light of this, scholars have argued for a “local
turn” in migration policies, whereby local governments become more active agents in creating
their own agendas, policies and answers to migration-related needs. Scholars have also shown
that local governments are increasingly putting their ideas on the agenda of national
governments and, occasionally, even that of the EU (Scholten, 2013).
Migration policy in Sweden has been strongly shaped by the tension between central
and local power (Lidén & Nyhlén, 2014). In March 2016, the Swedish government passed a
new law entitled the “Settlement Reform” (SFS2016:38), enacted at the time in which
Sweden was receiving a record number of asylum seekers in what has come to be known as
the refugee crisis. The purpose of this new legislation was both to increase the Swedish state’s
capacity to receive refugees, as well as to create a more equal distribution of refugees across
municipalities in order to better facilitate their integration into Swedish society (Regeringen,
2014). In practical terms, this meant that the system was centralized, insofar as the national
authority superseded municipalities in controlling migrant settlement. As the prior reform
(SFS2010:408) in place since 2010 made it such that municipalities had full autonomy in
accepting or declining refugees, there existed a distortion within the numbers of refugees
across municipalities (Lidén & Nyhlén, 2014). Since the time that the Reform was
implemented, however, several municipalities have vocalized a discontent with the new law.
Sölvesborg, for example, a municipality that has been inhospitable towards migrants,
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contended that the ruling went against the municipality’s right to self-government, as outlined
in the Swedish constitution (Pehrson, 2019). On the other hand, the municipalities of Krokom
and Östersund which have had a more welcoming approach towards refugee settlement
vocalized discontent with the new reform, arguing that they would like to receive more
refugees than the national policy allowed for. Both of these examples demonstrate how the
reception of refugees is a distinctive challenge both for local governments and state
governance.
With regards to refugee settlement, research has mostly concentrated on structural
aspects that explain local communities willingness to accept refugees, investigating local
party strength, state policymaking, public discourse, and demographic or economic reasons,
inter alia (see; Jacobsen, 1996; Bolin et al., 2014; Nolasco & Braaten, 2019). To fully
understand the mechanisms leading to a certain migration policy, however, structural
perspectives must be complemented with case studies that focus on the policy processes of
local municipalities where important stakeholders are located (Liden & Nyhlén, 2015).
Furthermore, considerably less research has been conducted wi thin the field of public
administration of migration in order to study the relationship between the local administrative
agency's influence over the policy process (see: Steen, 2016; Lidén & Nyhlén, 2015). This is
surprising, seeing as it is an important point of inquiry, especially given that public officials
exert influence on the primary phases of the political process, namely in policy definition,
agenda setting, and decision-making (Knill & Tosun, 2012). This thesis emanates from the
enactment of the Settlement Reform (also: Settlement Act), and studies the policy processes
within two municipalities of interest, Östersund and Krokom, from 2016-2020. The empirical
material in the study consists of semi-structured interviews with both public officials and
politicians, alongside documents that have been retrieved from municipalities, ranging from
protocols, motions, bases for decisions produced by public officials, and reports. The study
argues that the municipalities in question make for interesting case studies as they have
vocalised a discontent with the Reform for preventing them from receiving more refugees,
providing a relevant avenue to study the decision making-process in governance studies more
generally. Additionally, this thesis argues that while migration is framed within most studies
in public administration as a problem to be solved, this stance should in fact be complemented
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by emphasizing the positive aspects of migration (Yeo et al., 2020). As such, this thesis aims
to bring an additional dimension to the current knowledge of migration governance.
1.1 Aim and research questions
This thesis aims to investigate the policy process of migration policy in two welcoming
municipalities towards refugee settlement, Östersund and Krokom. These municipalities were
chosen because they have vocalized a discontent with the new reform, saying that they would
like to receive more refugees than the national policy allows for and making it an interesting
comparative case-study of decision-making processes within migration policy and governance
studies. In the center of this thesis, the public officials’ influence in the policy process is
investigated due to the aforementioned influence that public officials have on the primary
phases of the political process, namely policy definition, agenda setting, and decision making,
a focus that has previously been neglected in studies concerning migration policy. The
primary purpose of this study is thus to describe and analyse how public officials’ potentially
influence the policy process, alongside a secondary task of investigating how the
municipalities react towards a more restrictive national policy regarding refugee settlement
and what governance arrangements this can led to. Given this purpose, this thesis aims to
answer the following research questions:
● How do the public officials influence the policy process regarding refugee settlement
policy?
● How do the local governments respond to the Settlement reform and what governance
arrangement has this led to?
In doing so, it will be shown that this specific legislation in the Swedish context can
provide meaningful insights to migration studies more broadly, all while expanding
governance studies. Firstly, seeing as previous research has relied upon primarily structural
perspectives for studying local-level variation in migration policy, this paper will contribute to
the literature by relying instead on a case-study that can help understand the more specific
mechanisms that lead to differences in migration policies at the municipal-level. Secondly, it
will be argued that understanding the reasons which lead to variations in municipalities’
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refugee receptance are of importance when analyzing the outcomes of top-down refugee
settlement policies, with broader implications for refugee distribution at the supra-national
level such as within the EU. This study can thus meaningfully contribute to the literature in
migration studies, both in light of the refugee crisis but also in anticipation of high levels of
future migration, wherein the implications of distributions of refugees both across and within
nation states are of increasing importance.
1.2 Disposition
The thesis is organized as follows. Firstly, the study presents an overview of previous
research regarding public officials at the local level, and summarizes the literature on
governance within migration policy. Secondly, the theoretical framework used in the thesis
will be presented, surveying the literature on power and multilevel governance.Thirdly, the
choice of method is presented, and possible limitations are discussed. Finally, there will be a
discussion of the findings, followed by concluding remarks.
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2. PREVIOUS RESEARCH
In this section, previous research on the subject will be presented. There will first be a
presentation of previous research on public officials’ influence in the policy process, as this
thesis is interested in public officials’ influence within refugee settlement. Subsequently the
multilevel governance literature will be presented, studying how migration policy is
formulated through different levels of government. This literature will ultimately help respond
to this paper’s goal of understanding how local governments respond to a more restrictive
national policy.
2.1 Public officials’ influence at the local level
Within the academic literature, a consensus has emerged that public officials exert a
significant influence on the policy process, and, as such, on politics as well (Knill & Tosun,
2012). However, on the municipal level, research is rather scarce regarding the relationship
between public officials and political parties, both in Sweden and abroad. This is especially
true of studies focusing on the influence of public officials on the decision-making process in
local politics of Nordic countries (Bengtsson, 2011), with the exception of the following (see:
Jacobsen, 2007; Högberg, 2007; Bengtsson, 2011; Baekgaard et al., 2018).
Focusing on the municipal level, Jacobsen (2007) conducted a study on public
officials in Norway and concluded that they have an equal influence to politicians in
agenda-setting within municipalities. Another study by Högberg (2007) found that the heads
of local government had the power to influence the documents upon which politicians’
decisions would later be based, thus influencing political decisions. In another study,
Bengtsson (2011) focuses on two municipalities geographically close to each other which
both have had policies regarding windparks, however one of the municipalities managed to
build extensively wind parks in the municipality, while the other has not. What makes these
policy processes particularly interesting is that many of the documents which constitute the
two municipalities' wind power policies have been authored by public officials. In addition,
officials in the two neighboring municipalities have acted in different ways in the wind power
policy processes. In Falkenberg, they had been proactive, making proposals about, and
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arguing for, a large-scale wind power expansion. In Halmstad, the officials had been less
active and neither made a proposal or argued for any large-scale expansion, showing how
public officials have an extensive influence over policy. A more recent publication in the
same vein has also shown how public officials influence political agendas, in a study of
ninety-eight municipalities in Denmark wherein Baekgaard et al. (2018) found that the greater
number of civil servants relative to politicians increased the breadth of the political agenda.
The result was explained by the expertise the public officials possessed.
2.2 Public officials’ influence within public administration of migration
As mentioned in Section 1.1, few studies have focused on the specific role of public officials’
influence on the policy process within the public administration of migration. Nonetheless,
one example of a similar focus can be found in Steen’s (2016) study examining refugee
settlement in local governments across Norway, whose municipalities have full autonomy to
accept or reject the state's request to settle refugees. The author studies how administrative
and political processes at the local level may account for the decision to accept or reject the
state’s request, and inquires how the framing of the issue by the CEO may explain the
outcome. The CEO is politically neutral concerning parties and is appointed by the council on
a permanent basis based on professional competences such as educational skills and
bureaucratic experiences. The study concludes that the administrative framing by the CEO is
extremely important, and that generally the political parties listen to their economic arguments
on whether to accept or decline the state’s request. Thus, Steen (2016) argues that the state’s
main governing instrument is to transfer substantial economic resources in order to influence
the framework of local choice. However, as Steen (2016) notes, this tool has considerable
effects on settlement, but only on the extent to which the subsidy adheres to local policy
preferences as advocated by the CEO, showing that public officials, in this case the CEO, is
pivotal to the variety of local-level migration policies.
Another study in the same vein by Lidén & Nyhlén (2015) focuses on Swedish
municipalities, in order to understand how they design their migration policy as to whether to
accept or not to accept refugees. They study four municipalities that share various important
characteristics, differing only in their attitude towards reception of refugees. Lidén & Nyhlén
(2015) find that pragmatic views and internal constraints often shape local decision-making,
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particularly in terms of shaping refugee policy. The municipalities with positive views
towards refugee reception argue that it is rational to receive as many refugees as possible,
because of their role in improving the demographic situation and as a resource for the labour
market. By contrast, the municipalities that negatively viewed refugee reception argued that
they should be restricted in their reception because of specific local circumstances such as
housing shortages, and both the size of the administration and the labour market.
2.3 Multi-Level Governance of Migration
Multi-level governance (MLG) literature notes that all states are structured in multiple levels
of government, and that policy is formed through these various levels of government (Bache
& Flinders, 2004; Piattoni, 2010). This includes both vertical and horizontal relations, the
former of which examines the implications of local governance when interacting with higher
levels of government, such as national and increasingly European institutions. Horizontal
relations refer to when non-governmental actors are drawn into the governance process, but
also includes the study of relationships between local governments, such as cities or regions.
While MLG initially was intended to study the complex relationship between the European
Union and the national governments of its member states, the concept has recently garnered
attention in studying national and local relationships, as well as regional-state relations (see:
Scholten & Penninx, 2016).
2.3.1 Local state relations
Since the 2000s, considerable literature has emerged showing how local policies of
integration are vastly different from those at the national level (see: Poppelaars & Scholten,
2008; Jørgensen, 2012). This phenomenon of integration policy is what Caponio & Borkert
(2010) call the “local turn,” and describes a situation in which cities and regions become more
active agents with their own agendas, policies, and answers to migration-related needs.
Scholars in the field that studies local policies and local policy-making have put forward two
diverging hypotheses that explain local differences in policy: the localist thesis and the
relational approach (Adam & Capanio, 2019).
The localist approach argues that local policies are shaped by local conditions, in
terms of local problems relating to the economy, demographics, immigration, etc., seeing as
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the issues facing municipalities often differ from those at national level. A recent study by
Spencer & Delvino (2019) found that municipal governments of Europe have offered welfare
services to undocumented migrants to a greater extent than national policies allow. Seeking to
understand why, they studied policymakers at the local level and their justifications for
providing welfare services for undocumented refugees. They identified that inclusive
municipalities framed the provision of welfare services in six ways: (i) inclusive security; (ii)
humanitarian reasons; (iii) human rights; (iv) deserving workers; (v) socioeconomic factors;
and (vi) efficiency. In the socioeconomic framework, the problem of undocumented
immigration is defined by the economic and social harm that could be caused by the exclusion
of irregular migrants. For example, the city of Dublin argued that provision of shelter is a part
of the image of the city, and that tourists are sensitive to seeing people living on the street.
Furthermore, the efficiency framework relates to efficiency in public administration and
planning. Spanish municipalities, for example, argued that it is more cost-effective to include
irregular migrants in administrative procedures, in order to know the extent to which
increased provision of welfare services in schools and hospitals will be needed (Spencer &
Delvino, 2019).
Additionally, the localist approach argues that it has become increasingly apparent that
local governments can act as lobbyists for certain policy issues at the national, and even
European, level, in a process that Scholten (2013) calls “vertical venue shopping”. The
concept of venue shopping originates from the process whereby actors seek new ‘venues’ to
change the rules of the games, and in which their political agenda will most likely find
support (Guiraudon, 2000). In this vein, Myrberg (2017) focuses on the connection between
politics and policy, investigating how national refugee settlement policies in Denmark and
Sweden put pressure on local governments, and how the feedback from local public officials
shape the political opportunity structures at the national levels in turn. In Denmark and
Sweden in the mid-1990s, Myrberg (2017) argues that municipalities had to carry a larger
burden of reception than they could manage, and thus urged for changes in the national
dispersal and migration policies. However, the response from the national tier in the two
countries varied significantly. In Denmark, local municipalities had the influence to change
the policy, meanwhile in Sweden they did not. Myrberg (2017) found that the perception of
failure lived on for a long time among civil servants at the municipal level, and in turn shaped
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future expectations, depending on the perceived outcome, with regards to future negotiations
with the central government.
Furthermore, in the localist thesis, it has been argued that agenda setting at different
levels can affect the relationship between local and national tiers; if they are similar, it leads
to harmonious MLG, while if conflicting policy frameworks exist, MLG will be conflictual.
How political problems are represented, and what the solution may be, can diverge between
different tiers. As such, national governments may use top-down policy coordination, but
among local governments this might trigger a claim to local autonomy, as they wish to deal
with issues according to their own frameworks (Scholten, 2013).
In contrast, the relational approach argues that policy is not just shaped by local
problems, but also by the relationship between states and local governments. Scholten and
Pennix (2016) has argued in this vein that that vertical policy coordination encourages
convergence of migration policies between national and local levels, while the absence of
coordination may lead to conflicting policies. Adam and Capanio (2019), however, argue that
it is worth noting that some researchers have argued against both the localist and relational
approach, and contend that while vertical venue shopping is more apparent, vertical structures
are nonetheless built upon clear hierarchies and boundaries. While there might be some
opportunities for bottom-up input, final decisions are still made at the upper levels. In this
view, the national level ultimately decides what will be implemented by lower-level actors
through regulations and laws, and thus local governments have little room to influence
(Emilsson, 2015).
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3. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
In this section, the theoretical framework used in the thesis will be presented. Firstly, the
power literature will be discussed, seeing as the study is concerned with the influence of
public officials, and such influence over the policy process is about power. Secondly, the
thesis will present the literature on multilevel governance, which will be used to analyse what
governance arrangements the new settlement act has led to.
3.1 Definition of power
In public administration research, Dahl's (1957) definition of power is most frequently used.
In his conception, power is characterised by conflict, wherein two actors both act in their
self-interest to gain the upper hand, despite resistance from the other. Disagreements between
actors is built into Dahl’s concept, namely that when one actor has the power to enforce their
will, despite resistance, they exert power over others; Actor A has power over Actor B to the
extent that they can get Actor B to do something they would not otherwise do.
However, Dahl’s (1957) definition is not applicable when studying public officials’
influence in the political process, as demonstrated by several scholars (see: Aberbach et al.,
1981; Mouritzen et al., 2002; Bengtsson, 2011), who argue that the relationship between
public officials and politicians is not necessarily characterized by conflicting views or wills.
As such, they contend that Dahl's (1957) definition, which necessitates conflict, is too narrow.
Bengtsson (2011) argues that when studying public officials’ influence over the political
process, a power definition must be used that is not solely related to realizing their
preferences despite opposition, but also, or perhaps primarily, about achieving impacts. Thus,
instead of “power over,” a better definition is “power to”. One of the biggest advocates of the
“power to” perspective is Morriss (1987), who argues that this revised definition implies that
an actor can have power even in the absence of disagreement, so long as they can bring about
their intended effects. “Power to" can be defined as an actor's capacity “to act, to influence, or
to achieve deliberate outcomes, effects or goals, regardless of whether there is resistance or
not” (Morris, 1987:33).
It will be argued that ‘power to’ is suitable for this study, given its focus on the
different power relations that exist at the municipal level, and seeing as both public officials
and politicians will be interviewed. Specifically, it will help illuminate whether, even in the
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absence of visible conflict, public officials in the two cities in the case study exert influence
on local-level migration policy.
3.2 Three faces of Power
There are different ways an actor can influence the political process. In his book Power: A
Radical View (2005), Steven Lukes presents the theory of “three faces of power”, wherein he
argues that power is mainly exercised in three ways; through (i) decision-making power, (ii)
non-decision-making power and (iii) ideological power.
The first dimension of power is decision-making power, which is the most obvious
and open-ended of all three faces. Decision-making power is analysed through preferences
that are revealed in political action, and its definition relies on Dahl's assumption of “power
over.” Hence, conflicting interests are necessary. In this thesis, the first face of power is
reinterpreted in terms of “power to” in order to study public officials influence (see:
Bengtsson, 2011), meaning that actors exert power if they actively influence the outcome of
the policy process, regardless if there is a conflict between parties or not.
The second dimension of power is what Lukes (2005) calls non-decision-making
power, which refers to the process of ‘agenda setting’ and will subsequently be called that in
the thesis. Agenda setting relates to analysing the political decisions that are, or are not, raised
on the agenda. Luke (2005) argues that agenda-setting is primarily about Actor A being able
to stop questions from ending up on the agenda that are of importance to Actor B. Agenda
setting is thus about having “power over” the other actor and being able to silence certain
issues before they reach the agenda. However, in order to be able to study public officials’
influence over agenda-setting, a “power to” perspective must be implemented (Bengtsson,
2011). Non-decision making is thus reinterpreted as an agenda-setting power, that can be used
to hinder or promote certain issues, and is of more interest when studying control over the
agenda-setting in a broader sense, whereby actors influence which questions are of political
focus (Bengtsson, 2011). In this thesis, agenda setting refers not only to the local municipal
agenda, but also the power to put issues on the regional or national agenda.
The third dimension is what Lukes (2005) calls ideological power, in which people’s
wills and thoughts are steered towards certain beliefs, sometimes so far as to make actors
want things that are opposed to their own interest. Ideological power is used by an actor to
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influence the context in which decision-making is done, thereby influencing political agendas
or decisions indirectly by influencing how actors think and perceive their reality.
Methodologically, it can be hard to study this power. Bengtsson (2011) contends that the
power of ideology can be studied by analyzing what the problem is represented to be and how
solutions are constructed. Social problems are socially constructed, meaning that some
characteristics of a problem might be highlighted while others are downplayed, in order to
present a specific solution. Such a way of presenting a problem is known as ‘framing’ (Ward
et al., 2004). Frames are often used by political parties to socially construct a problem and
structure a conflict in order to win (see: Baumgartner et al., 2008; Baumgartner & Jones,
2009). Framing is thus about selecting which information will be highlighted and those that
will not, thereby influencing which policy alternative will be implemented. Thus, in this thesis
the third dimension of power is analysed through how they speak about refugees and the
settlement act and what solutions are presented. The aim is to investigate how much the
public officials contribute to framing and which solutions are presented, and if this has an
effect on the policy-outcome. The politicians’ framings are also analysed.
3.3 Framework of multilevel governance
Scholten (2013) puts forward a framework to make it possible to study the condition
of multiple tiers, specifically in the context of relations between national and local
governments, which is of interest to this thesis. Scholten (2013) contends that there are four
main compositions of the relations between government levels: Centralist (top-down),
Localist (bottom-up), Multilevel Governance, and Decoupled Governance. The purpose of the
study is not to test Scholten (2013) framework, but rather to help to structure the thesis and
combine the power literature with the governance literature. Scholten’s (2013) framework is
used in the study to analyse which governance arrangements the new national policy
regarding refugee settlement has enacted at the local level.
First, the Centrist approach shows a distinct hierarchy and division of labour between
different governmental levels. This describes a top-down approach in which there is a clear
central codification and control mechanisms in the division of labour between tiers, ensuring
that policy implementation follows the central policy frame. The Centrist approach is
expected to produce policy convergence between different levels of government due to the
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control structures, for example, it is often assumed that the framing of a problem on the local
level will likely be the same as the national level within the centrist approach (Scholten,
2013).
The second approach is the Localist, which includes a more bottom-up perspective on
governance within multi-level settings. Local government in this approach does not solely
implement policy, as in the top-down approach, but they also develop their own, responding
to local policy agendas and developing networks horizontally with other cities or local
governments. The Localist approach thus contributes to policy divergence from the national
framework, given that local governments respond to unique local circumstances. Problems are
often framed here as a local problem needing local solutions. In this approach, it is also often
apparent that the local government tries to lobby for their policy ideas at the national level, in
what is called “vertical venue shopping”.
The third ideal type is Multilevel Governance, which refers to a situation where no
level dominates another. Instead, the different levels act through networks on “vertical
venues”, which mostly contributes to convergence in policy framing as different tiers interact
with one another through forms between various levels and institutions. Finally, the last ideal
type is the Decoupled approach, which refers to a situation in which no policy coordination
takes place across the different levels. This type can contribute to political conflict, as the
framing of policy can differ vastly. Nevertheless, it can also contribute to the local level
having more power, by disengaging from initial cooperation with the national government.
3.4 Operationalization
In order to be able to measure how public officials influence the policy process, theoretical
definitions must be given operational indicators (Esaiasson et al., 2017), so that theories can
be made measurable in empirics. The definition can either emanate from previous research, or
be modified by the researcher themselves to suit their current study. In a good
operationalization, it is made clear to the reader that a placement in a certain category depends
on the criteria which the researcher has decided upon, and not by the researcher’s arbitrary
assessment (Esaiasson et al., 2017).
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In this thesis, the definition of power emanates from Lukes’ (2015) three faces of
power. More precisely, the definition of power in Steven Lukes’ theoretical framework has
been modified to make it possible to study public officials’ influence in the policy process,
through Bengtsson’s (2011) modification of “power over” to “power to”. Furthermore,
Scholtens (2013) framework of ideal types of governance is applied in order to study the local
governance response towards more restrictive national policies. Below the operationalization
scheme of Lukes’ (2005) theory will be presented.
Table 1. Analytical schedule of Steven Lukes’ “Three Faces of Power”.
‘Three faces of power’ Operationalization
Decision-making power
Influence in the first dimension of power is to influence
decisions. In Swedish municipalities public officials can
influence in the first dimension of power by influencing
documents in which the decision will be based on.
The public officials’ scope of action to influence politicians
is through documents they have written.
Agenda Setting power
Influence in the second dimension of power can either be
when an actor works to make a question appear
on the agenda (local, regional or national), or work so that
a question does not end up on the agenda.
The public officials’ scope of action includes placing issues
on the agenda and influencing which questions are of
political focus, but also could be ensuring that a question
does not end up on the agenda, (non-decisions).
Ideological power
Power in the third dimension is about influencing agendas
and decisions indirectly by affecting how people think or
define an issue. In this thesis, the third dimension of power
is studied through framing.
The public officials’ power influences how politicians
define an issue.
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4. METHOD
4.1 Research design
The thesis is a case study of two welcoming municipalities which have vocalized a discontent
towards the new Settlement Reform, Krokom and Östersund. The municipalities were chosen
in order to gain a deeper understanding of this particular phenomenon within migration policy
and governance. The choice of method design is rooted in the aim to study contextual
phenomena of power, where case studies are commonly used in the literature (see: Dahl,
1961; Bachrach & Baratz, 1970). Nevertheless, the author acknowledges that case studies
have historically gained scrutiny in academic debates on methodology, in which it has been
argued that single case studies are unable to give insights about the causes and effects of a
phenomenon or it’s general context. Hence, this thesis abdicates the possibility of
generalizing the research results (Esaiasson et al., 2017).
4.2 Choice of method
This thesis is a qualitative study based on interviews and documents with a descriptive
character, a method that is well suited for the study given that the goal is to chart out the
policy processes and investigate how public officials might exert influence upon it (Esaiasson
et al., 2017). Descriptive studies classify reality, where the most important point of analysis
lies within the theoretical construction (Esaiasson et al., 2017). In the theoretical section, the
thesis presented the operationalization, which will be used as an instrument for what the study
will be searching for in the analysis.
Twelve semi-structured interviews were conducted (see: Appendix B for interview
schedule) with both public officials and politicians in the respective municipalities (see:
Appendix B for overview of respondents), both of which have been working on questions
regarding the Settlement Act and immigration policies more broadly. The choice of
respondents to interview was based on strategic selection (Esaiasson et al., 2017): public
officials were selected based on their job positions and because they were assumed to have
extensive knowledge on the policy process of interest. Similarly, politicians were selected
from executive boards, which are the municipality’s highest decision-making body, and are of
15
interest because it is the place where most decisions are prepared. A semi-structured interview
guide was used in which questions were predetermined, all while giving the opportunity to
ask additional questions for clarification purposes. The questions were derived from the
theoretical framework presented in Section 3. Contact with respondents was made by email or
phone, and an appointment for the interviews was agreed.
In Krokom’s municipality, six interviews were made. Two interviews were conducted
with public officials and four with politicians sitting on the municipality’s executive board. In
Östersund, six interviews were made, two with public officials and four with politicians
sitting on the board. A total of twelve interviews were made in the study, with each lasting
between twenty and forty minutes. One interview was conducted through Skype, and the
additional eleven were conducted via phone. Before commencing, interviewees were offered
anonymity and were made aware that the interview would be recorded. Upon completion,
interviews were transcribed. To summarize the interviews, ‘memos’ were used to create a
systematic overview, and included the interview question, the answer, relevant quotes and,
finally, the researcher’s comments that tied in theory (Esaiasson et al., 2017). The interviews
will be referred to in the analysis as (P) if it is a politician, or (PO) if it is a public official.
Documents were also used to chart out the policy process since the initiation of the
Settlement Act, as well as to analyse public officials’ potential influence in the policy process.
An email was sent out to the respective municipalities with a request to receive all documents
wherein the phrases “refugee” and “Settlement Act” were mentioned, from the date the
Settlement Act was enacted, February 4th, 2016, to present day. The material received
comprises archived documents, protocols, public official suggestions, motions, investigations,
and more, all of which were read through and analysed within the operationalization scheme.
Furthermore, a framing analysis was conducted on the interviews, and documents. The
idea of frames relates to societal problems not having a given meaning, and thus can be
framed in different ways according to different actors. Some attributes of an issue might be
highlighted while other factors will be downplayed. How a problem is framed contributes to
which solution that will be proposed, a process that is commonly called framing (Esaiasson et
al., 2017). The framing analysis was made to answer the third dimension of power,
“ideological power”, i.e., how public officials frame refugees and how this affects how the
politicians in the municipalities subsequently frame refugees. In this thesis, the framing
16
analysis of Esaiasson et al. (2017) will be applied to the empirical data, where the following
questions will be employed: (i) how is the problem framed, what kind of problem is it framed
as, and for whom is it framed to be a problem for?; (ii) how are the refugees framed?; (iii)
what are the causes of the problem?; (iv) how are the solutions for the problem framed?
4.3 Possible limitations
In interview-based studies, the researcher's goal is to achieve theoretical saturation, meaning
that the researcher collects as much data as possible in order to answer the research question
in a meaningful way. The analysis of empirical data should present generalised information,
not just with data that is applicable to the respondents in the study (Esaiasson et al, 2017). In
this paper, interviews with public officials and politicians do not achieve the goals of
theoretical saturation, yet this does not mean that the thesis can not present any meaningful
result. The thesis can still describe trends in the data collection and can give an increased
understanding of the phenomenon, making it a useful starting point for further research.
A further possible limitation is the fact that the interviews were conducted through
Skype and over the phone. Studies have found that in-person interviews have a clear
advantage in producing conversations, and can thus affect the richness of the information
produced. The fact that the thesis interviews were not conducted in-person could have
impacted the findings of the study (Johanson et al., 2019). However, researchers have also
discussed the advantages of using phone or Skype interviews, arguing that telephone
interviews might provide a calmer and more private setting, and thus produce more data,
when compared to an interview conducted in a loud, public, and possibly uncomfortable,
place for the respondent (Sturgis & Hanrahan, 2004). Similarly, others have argued that
Skype interviews could, by all means, produce the same interactions as in-person interviews
when it comes to nonverbal communication (see: Janghorban et. al., 2014; Iacono, Symonds,
& Brown, 2016). Finally, interviews were conducted in Swedish and later translated to
English, perhaps creating the risk that some of the initial meaning was lost. This, while likely
to not be a major problem overall, is important to note.
17
5. FINDINGS
In this section, the findings of the thesis will be presented. First, the agenda-setting power of
public officials will be discussed, before studying the decision-making power of public
officials, and, lastly, the third dimension of power (framing), in which it will be discussed
whether the public officials’ framing preceded that of the politicians, or vice versa.
Throughout the analysis, governance literature and Scholten’s (2013) “ideal types” will be
referenced with respect to the findings. The findings section will conclude with an analysis of
the implications for MLG.
5.1 Agenda-setting power
Power in the second dimension relates not only to influencing the policy process by placing
issues on the agenda or influencing which questions are of political focus, but sometimes by
working to ensure that a question does not end up on the agenda (Lukes, 2005). The latter─
to act so that a question is kept away from the agenda ─ is referred to as a “non-decision”.
Theoretically, agenda-setting precedes decision making, which constitutes the first dimension
of power (Bengtsson, 2011), thus the second dimension of power will be discussed first in this
analysis. Interviews with public officials and politicians from the municipalities will be at the
heart of this subsequent analysis.
5.1.1 Krokom
In Krokom, the Settlement Act first ended up on the political agenda of the regional
governments, where public officials in Krokom tried to gain salience of their view at the
county board shortly after the reform was enacted. It was during these regional proceedings
that officials argued that the Settlement Act was based on the false assumption that all
municipalities considered immigration to be negative, considering that several municipalities
in the region of Jämtland viewed refugees as a resource to their communities and themselves.
The county board subsequently tried to lobby their ideas on the national level, specifically
arguing that there should not be a maximum level of refugees that a municipality can receive,
rather that there should be some flexibility in the Act so that the municipalities who would
like to receive more refugees can. The public officials also invited the national commissioner
18
in charge of investigating the Settlement Act to Krokom, to gain salience for their views and
to lobby their ideas, as demonstrated by the following quote:
All of the municipalities in the region have said that ever since the new
Settlement Act was enacted, they would like to receive more refugees. The
municipalities have worked together on this issue, and the county governments
have spoken about our interest at the national level. We in Krokom have invited
the national investigator that was working on improvements to the Settlement
Act to discuss what we think about the idea of limiting the number of refugees a
municipality is allowed to take. We have discussed with our local government
commissioners, and they have also written petitions about the issue. We have
always seen refugees as a resource to our community (PO1).
The question of refugee settlement in Krokom has thus mostly been driven at the
regional level, within the county board, and with public officials at the forefront. However,
there has also been a demonstrated political interest in the question of migration from
politicians with local government commissioners in Jämtland, who have written protest
petitions to the Migration Agency of Sweden in response to their decision to dismantle
asylum accommodations in the region. The petition argued against this because, according to
the interviews with public officials and politicians, it would affect the municipality’s refugee
intake, seeing as there is a strong correlation between where asylum seekers temporarily
reside and where they later decide to settle (if they find their own apartment through the
‘EBO’ legislation).
These findings show how public officials exercise power in the second dimension by
placing the respective issue on the regional and national agenda. The analysis also highlights
that their response to the national-level policy has led to a Localist governance approach, one
in which it is often apparent that local governments try to lobby their ideas towards upper
levels of governments, called “vertical venue shopping” (Scholten, 2013). Public officials
having cooperated with the county board, to try to lobby their ideas towards the national level,
and having invited the national investigator analysing the Settlement Act to their municipality,
are clear cases of vertical venue shopping.
19
When asked how they work today with questions relating to the Settlement Act, public
officials of Krokom have stated in interviews that it is no longer active, as those working with
the issue have realised that they will not be able to gain salience for their view at the national
level. Another reason for which Krokom’s municipality is no longer actively pursuing this
question is due to the municipality’s integration department being dismantled. At its peak, the
organisation employed one hundred and twenty people, compared to only twenty today, with
some estimating that in a year’s time the agency will cease to function at all. This is not only a
consequence of the Settlement Act, but also due to the national migration agency dismantling
migrants’ temporary accommodation in the region. A sense of hopelessness among officials
towards not being to influence policy at the national level was detected within the interviews
conducted, demonstrated below:
We have tried to garner attention for our view through official channels, but
somehow along the way we started to lose hope (PO1).
At Krokom’s local level agenda, the discussion has mostly been focused on what to do
with the large migration-related organisation they built up during the years in which the
municipality was allowed to decide independently how many migrants they would like to
receive. Hence, when politicians saw that such a small number would be received in Krokom
after the initiation of the Settlement Act, the discussion revolved around organisational issues.
This is also confirmed by public officials in Krokom. Showing how discussions at the local
level with regards to refugee settlement often centers around purley pragmatic issues in line
with Scholten (2013). This trend is demonstrated below:
The discussion has revolved around purley organizational issues. It is not
effective to work with 10 people, when the same organization would often work
with 50 or more. In Krokom, we would like to receive more refugees because we
want to increase the size of our population and migration is important for this
goal. I understand the idea behind the settlement reform, and think it is good to
distribute refugees among the municipalities in Sweden, however, what I oppose
is the fact that there is no flexibility in the law (P2).
20
We receive so few migrants that it’s hard to keep a sensible agency, considering
how many people in our unit worked with refugees. It is also difficult to maintain
a good level och of quality when we have had to size down on the organisation to
much (P9)
Essentially, the money that we have received has been sufficient, but it is more so
a question of the volume of migrants. We need about the same organization
whether we receive 7 or 100 refugees. This means that it would be a better deal
for the municipality if we received more. In all industries, there are major
operational advantages and disadvantages. There are lots of things one must have,
for example, statutory language. Then you have two who speak a language, but
you must still be able to offer this as if you have 40 people” (PO1).
A problem which many speak of in Krokom is that they do not know how many
people will settle in the municipality, and that even if the Settlement Act states that it will be a
certain number, more refugees could still settle in the municipality through the EBO
legislation ─ one can not build an agency and a budget on uncertainties, though. Thus, public
officials lament that this will lead to worse integration opportunities, as there won't be a
sufficient organisation dealing with these questions:
The labour force will be reduced since we cannot expect refugees to settle in the
municipality. This is unfortunate when we have built a big and successful
organisation, and maybe people will settle here anyway, but we won't have the
mandate to carry out our services. It is always good for a municipality to be able
to plan on how many people will come and budget accordingly, so that you are
prepared for it (PO10).
When asked where the decision to cut down came from, public officials answered that the
budget was the politicians responsibility and has been decided based on political matters, and
21
that they have not commanded anything. It is the public officials’ responsibility only later on
to distribute money to where it is needed the most across local agencies, and seeing as
Krokom isn't receiving many refugees, the public officials contend that they must cut down.
Deriving from the examples above, this study highlights that both public officials and
politicians acted in favor of placing reforms to the Settlement Act on the agenda, both on the
regional and national level, but that public officials are no longer actively pursuing the
question of migration in Krokom. They sense that they will not be able to influence upper
levels of government to change the Act, which has left the public officials with a sense of
hopelessness and led them to no longer put anything related to the matter on their agenda,
local, regional or national. Furthermore, the organization working with refugee settlement and
integration is being dismantled, a decision which seems to be stressed by politicians of the
municipality.
5.1.2 Östersund
The issue of the Settlement Act in Östersund has, similarly to Krokom, ended up on the
agenda since being enacted. The discussion has mainly taken place at the regional level
between public officials and the county board, but has reached as far as the national level.
Thus, in Östersund, public officials have also been using “vertical venue shopping” to gain
salience for their view at upper levels of government (Scholten, 2013), as is the case in
Krokom. Nonetheless, officials feel that their interests have not been taken into consideration
and that national authorities are not ready to change the law:
We have tried to push the question within the county board, and while they have
attempted to vocalise our will to the national government, we have not received
any reception from them. Every time I am in a forum, I speak about these things.
I pursue the question that we should be allowed to take more refugees, and that
the number we can receive should not be decided from above. The Swedish
Association of Local Authorities and Regions are also pursuing this question,
mentioning Östersund as one of the municipalities that is both hospitable to
refugees and affected by the Settlement Act in a negative way. Still, the
government is not ready to change the law (PO6).
22
Unlike Krokom’s public officials, Östersund officials are attempting to see if there is
another channel through which they can receive more refugees, all while following the law.
An idea that public officials considered related to the challenges that municipalities in larger
metropolitan areas, such as Stockholm, face, especially when finding housing for migrants.
Officials proposed that these municipalities could instead cooperate with those in northern
Sweden, to which migrants can move. Public officials say that the idea of inter-municipal
cooperation was born from this fact. This proposal, however, which public officials have been
working on for over a year, has yet to end up on the political agenda or be discussed further
with politicians of the city council. The subject will only be placed on the agenda in the
Spring of 2020, when it is predicted that a large political debate will take place on whether
this cooperation regarding refugee settlement will be realised. The inter-municipal
cooperation is similar to the localist approach of governance, in that the localist approach
contends that local governments respond to local policy agendas all while engaging in
developing networks horizontally with other cities or local governments. The public officials’
initiative to develop inter-municipal cooperation is a clear case of this, in reaction to a more
restrictive national policy (Scholten, 2013).
When asked why they were pursuing inter-municipal cooperation, public officials of
Östersund argued that it stemmed from a fundamental notion of solidarity, seeing as it relates
to helping municipalities which struggle in finding sustainable housing for the migrant
population. As such, having inter-municipal cooperation can allow municipalities to help one
another in giving the best chance for migrants’ integration when starting their lives in
Sweden, all while helping achieve the overall goal of population growth of Östersund.
When asked how they thought politicians would react to their proposal, public
officials had no sense of how the debate might take shape. They did state, however, that they
perceived a sense of regret among local politicians that less refugees had been accepted then
before. Furthermore, some officials also consulted politicians on whether the proposal they
were working on was worth pursuing, which interviews with politicians from Östersund
confirms.
Deriving from the examples above, it becomes clear that public officials in Östersund
have actively been trying to put questions related to the Settlement Act on both the regional,
23
national but also the local agenda, in which they are taking initiatives in the political process
to receive more refugees (Lukes, 2005). Their point of departure is the demonstrated interest
among politicians in receiving more refugees since the Act was put in place. In contrast to
Krokom, public officials in Östersund have the power to place issues on the local agenda also,
relating to the second dimension of power, such as making it possible for Östersund to receive
more refugees which would otherwise not occur (ibid). Furthermore, it is apparent that the
restrictive national policy has lead to a Localist approach in Östersund, where public officials
use both “vertical venue shopping” to gain support for their views at upper levels of
government, and create networks horizontally with other governments at the local level as
well (Scholten, 2013).
5.2 Public officials and the municipalities’ political agendas
The analysis highlights two results. Firstly, officials in both municipalities have contributed to
the policy process in the second dimension of power, that being agenda-setting power. This
has mainly been aimed towards the regional and national level, in attempts to change the
Settlement Act towards becoming more flexible. Secondly, public officials in both
municipalities have contributed to the agenda in a similar way, with a focus on the regional
and national agenda. The key difference between the two municipalities can be seen from
public officials in Krokom not placing anything related to migration on the local agenda,
while Östersunds public officials have, alongside having initiated inter-municipal cooperation.
Viewing initiative as a focal point is interesting from a power perspective, in that
actors who take initiative can produce effects that would otherwise not have occured in the
policy process. Continued initiative, or lack of initiative, can be regarded as a continuation of
agenda-setting (Lukes, 2005). Public officials in Krokom stated that they were not putting
anything on the agenda because the question was no longer active in the municipality, which
they attributed to two reasons:namely, that they had tried to go through the official channels
and lobby their ideas to the regional and national agenda without success, leaving them with a
sense of hopelessness. Similarly, since they were not receiving as many refugees as before,
they began dismantling the agency dedicated to working on integration and refugee
settlement. This decision is first and foremost a political matter, which has been discussed
extensively at the local level between politicians and public officials, and which interviews
24
have confirmed. Public officials in Krokom mention that they are aware of Östersund
pursuing inter-municipal cooperation, but that they don’t believe that it will succeed, thus
choosing to not put anything similar on their agenda. This is interpreted as a non-decision by
the public officials, insofar as they are aware that Krokom sees refugees as a resource, and of
politicians' positive sentiments towards migration which is firmly stated in political policy
documents, but they still are not putting anything related to it on the agenda.
It must be noted that there is a slight difference between the politicians in Östersund
and Krokom. In Krokom, there was an emphasis by mostly all of the politicians interviewed
that they would not be able to run an organisation if they receive so few refugees, possibly
implying that politicians have already set the agenda and hence why public officials are not
putting anything migration-related on the agenda. It might also be the case that the politicians
in Krokom have had more power in the second dimension of power, to influence the agenda
and questions that are of focus which, in this case, relates to organisational issues of political
focus (Lukes, 2005).
5.3 Decision-making power
The first dimension of power is that of influencing decisions, which is a central part of the
policy process. As it is politicians who make the final decision in municipalities, public
officials can act within the first dimension of power by influencing documents and reports on
which political decisions will later be based on (Bengtsson, 2011). In Swedish municipalities,
the responsibility of preparing the basis for decisions falls upon the public officials. Thus, in
this section, public officials and their proposals for future decisions ─ using documents
retrieved from the municipalities ─ will be at the heart of the analysis.
Since the Settlement Act was enacted, public officials of Östersund have submitted a
number of proposals for decisions that were processed by the municipal council, showing how
the public officials exert influence in the first dimension of power (Lukes, 2005). The first
proposal from the municipal archive entitled “Östersund. (2016). Flyktingmottagande 2016
(320-2016),” is where public officials describe the conditions for refugee reception in the year
of 2016, and in which they predict an decline of Östersund’s refugee reception due to various
external factors, but primarily because of the Settlement Act. The proposal suggests that,
25
"Östersund Municipality shall adopt an ambition to receive at least 300 refugees with
residence permits annually - regardless of the assigned number by the Settlement Act - in
order to facilitate better long-term planning" (Östersund, 2016). The Moderate Party
(conservatives) rejected the proposal, arguing that Östersund’s housing shortage would
become problematic if the municipality received more refugees. The proposal was
nonetheless accepted by the municipal council (Östersund, 2016).
Why did the public officials argue for this proposal? This decision stems from two
facts. Firstly, public officials contend in the documents that, even though the number of
refugees assigned to them through the settlement reform is low, refugees could still find their
own accommodation through the ‘EBO’ legislation. Thus, by anticipating that Östersund will
receive 300 migrants, the integration office is able to plan service-related needs accordingly.
Secondly, they suggest that regardless of whether the assigned number of refugees is high or
not, the municipality should work in line with the tillväxtplanen (Growth Plan), a policy
document that states that the municipality shall work for increased population growth because
of future challenges including demographic losses and a lack of labour force in important
professions. As a point of departure in the policy document, the public officials of Östersund
argued that the municipality should set a high level of ambition on a refugee reception, with
three hundred refugees annually. The following year, 2017 an identical proposal
(Flyktingmottagande 2018 1518-2016) from public officials was submitted, in which they
argued for an overall goal of three hundred refugees for 2018, and was also accepted by the
municipal council.
Stemming from the examples above, this study points towards Localist governance
arrangements that the national policy seems to have activated (Scholten, 2013). The Localist
approach contributes to policy divergence from the national framework, given that local
governments argue a need to respond to their unique circumstances, in this case demographic
challenges and labour shortages, thus policy responds to local conditions (Scholten, 2013).
The public officials have, for example, suggested that the municipality should have a goal of
receiving 300 refugees annually because it “facilitates a better planning of service-related
needs in the municipality” (Östersund, 2016), and because they know that refugees will settle
in the municipality through the ‘EBO’ legislation as well. This goes in line with previous
research which demonstrates that local governments often have a pragmatic problem-solving
26
approach . In a study Spencer & Delvino (2019) found that municipalities argued it to be more
cost-effective to include irregular migrants in the administrative procedures, as it would help
know the extent to which increased provisions of welfare services in schools and hospitals
was needed. The same argument goes for Östersund where they argue it is better to plan for
300 to facilitate better planning of administrative service. Furthermore, public officials argued
that refugees were a way to solve demographic problems such as aging and labour shortages
in Östersund, which would put strain on the social security net, showing once again how
public officials produce policy to respond to unique local circumstances.
Additionally, quite recently, public officials in Östersund drafted a proposal regarding
refugee settlement (see: Östersunds kommun. 2020. Interkommunalt samarbete avseende
nyanlända 00052-2020), in which they argue for intercommunal cooperation between
municipalities. This is argued as a way to “go around the law” of the Settlement Act and gain
more refugees than national policy allows. This will be made through signing inter-municipal
collaboration agreements with other municipalities that have a positive attitude towards
refugee reception, but who struggle with challenges such as the housing market and the labour
market. As such, refugees which have been assigned to a municipality which facing
integration challenges would be assigned to Östersund instead. This would serve to increase
the population of Östersund all while reducing the strain on others. In the proposal, public
officials argue:
One of the most important future issues that the municipality of Östersund has to
manage is the demographic challenge, as well as working for a stable population
development. One way to meet these challenges is to work for increased
immigration to Östersund. More residents leads to increased tax revenue, and
statistics from both the Public Employment Service and SCB (The statistic
agency of Sweden) shows that both the state and the municipality need more
residents to attend to future labor needs. The municipality of Östersund needs to
take advantage of the possibility of mutual profit, and a way to meet this is an
increased reception of refugees with residence permits (Östersund kommun,
2020).
27
In the proposal, “Östersunds kommun. 2020. Interkommunalt samarbete avseende
nyanlända 00052-2020),” one can clearly distinguish the Localist approach, in which
Östersund develops their own policy responding to local policy agendas, and the horizontal
networks formed with cities and local governments. Migration into the municipality is argued
as something important for the municipality in Östersund’s case, a way to handle future
demographic problems and shortages in the labour force.
In Krokom, public officials have not put forward as much basis for future
decision-making as is the case in Östersund. In the first proposal, “Krokom (2016). Nivå för
mottagande 2017. Tjänsteutlåtande,” submitted in 2016 directly after the Settlement Act was
introduced, public officials argued that the municipality should set a political goal of
receiving one hundred refugees annually, fifty individuals more than the Settlement Act
required that year. In the proposal, they argued that many additional refugees would settle in
the municipality through the ‘EBO’ legislation, implying that they anticipate more people
than is stated in the official document. Further, the document outlines that shortages in
Krokom’s labour force is a priority and need for the municipality in coming years. Finally,
they note that since the organisation is already budgeted for 100 individuals per year, and as
such they argued that it is smart from an organizational perspective. When analysing the
document, one can, as in Östersund, clearly distinguish a Localist governance approach,
wherein officials argue that local problems need local solutions. They also offer a pragmatic
view of policy, where organisational issues are frequently highlighted in the argumentation.
However, it is clear that there are clearly less proposals from public officials in Krokom with
respect to Östersund. Thus, this case-study helps argue that public officials in Krokom might
not have as much influence in the first dimension of power as in Östersund.
5.4 Ideological power
The third dimension of power, as defined by Lukes (2005), is known as ideological power,
which relates to influencing agendas and decisions indirectly through influencing how other
actors think, perceive, and define their reality. In this thesis the third dimension of power is
analysed through how immigration is framed by the municipalities. To understand the power
relation between public officials and politicians, this thesis investigates whether public
28
officials influence how politicians perceive their reality, namely framing refugees ( for an
explanation of this, see the section 5.2), or if by contrast it is politicians who influence
officials. While this is an important source of investigation, as the third dimension of power
relates to shaping or creating others opinions, empirically this phenomenon is difficult to
determine (Bengtsson 2011).
This study contends that the two municipalities draw upon three different frameworks
when speaking about the importance of immigration in their cities and towns: (i) welfare gain
frame; (ii) solidarity frame; and (iii) the pragmatic frame. Both were found to employ a
‘welfare gain’ frame, by stating that immigration can create population growth and thus
enhance tax revenues. In the ‘solidarity framework’, municipalities show solidarity to
municipalities which struggle in implementing national policy quotas, along with the refugees
themselves. Thirdly, a ‘pragmatic frame’ was found, in which officials spoke about purley
organisational challenges associated with receiving less refugees. It will be demonstrated that
the welfare gain framework was used in both municipalities, and was the most prominent of
the two, while the solidarity frame was more apparent in Östersund than in Krokom. Finally
the pragmatic frame was most apparent at Krokom with the politicians in the forefront using
this frame, but also to some extent the public officials. The findings also show that local
frames are different from national ones, and that sub-state tiers and local frames are more
alike.
5.4.1 Welfare gain frame
From an analysis of primary documents and interviews, a pattern is revealed regarding the
problems of the Settlement Act and whom it is a problem for. Primarily, the Act is
problematic for municipalities that have demographic challenges and where there are labour
shortages, often located in the Northern hinterland. Both Krokoms and Östersunds
municipalities stress a fundamental goal of wanting to increase the population of their
municipalities, verified by the strategic documents analysed, in which it is emphasized that
the county board and the municipalities in the region are actively working to have an influx of
habitants that will enhance economic growth, and where refugees are seen as a resource for
reaching these goals (Integration Strategy, 2016; Integration Strategy, 2017). From this point
of view, refugee settlement is viewed as a welfare gain. Respondents also stressed that
29
migrants bring economic value to their municipality in the form of the skills and resources
that they possess from their home countries, those of which can be tapped into. All of the
public officials in both municipalities underscored these facts, and showed a high level of
respect for refugees, emphasizing the ‘welfare’ that they bring into the municipalities:
Sweden is built on refugees, and here in our municipality there are many small
villages where they are very welcome to settle. The refugees I have met during
my years working with integration, and what I have personally experienced, is
that they are energetic, they are often entrepreneurs, and have had their own
businesses in their home country. We have many small firms and refugees
possess skills such as carpentry which they gained in their home countries and
which are invaluable for our small firms that can hire them (PO1).
We need immigration into the northern hinterlands. The future labour market
doesn't look so bright because we need more labour force than we have, and to
face these future challenges refugees must be a part of the solution (PO6).
Meeting the demographic challenges and working for stable population growth
are the most important issues that the municipality has to deal with in the future.
The most important aspect of population development is immigration.For
Östersund, as well as for many other municipalities, non-european immigration
is the most important immigration that corresponds to the municipalities’ future
needs of residents and labour force participants (Integrations Strategy, 2016).
The welfare gains of solving demographic challenges also seem to be framed with
specific respect to municipalities in the Northern hinterland, who particularly seek to solve
labour market problems, hence these areas being particularly receptive towards refugees. In
general this is a phenomenon where there is a decline of small and mid-sized regional cities
due to outward migration to big cities, called urban drift. Six out of eight politicians argued
this to be the main reason for being receptive towards refugee settlement:
30
We want an increased population and we need more people here in the northern
hinterland. The challenge is that as people get older and young people move out
from our small villages and cities, we don't have enough people that pay taxes. If
we get more people to move in, for example refugees, we can increase our tax
revenue, which we think is positive for economic growth (P8).
We see everyone who comes here as a resource. Many residents have become
favorable towards refugee reception, especially in our villages. Residents think it
is positive and fun that people come and live here. We see it as a possibility for
population and economic growth (P9).
Regarding the subjects, or actors, that are included in the framework and how they are
represented include, refugees are first and foremost framed as saviours who will solve the
municipality’s demographic and labour problems, and for whom the municipality will fulfill a
need for people who want to live and work in these cities and villages. Secondly, the
municipalities are framed as doing a good job in integrating refugees into the society, and that
Östersund and Krokom are unique in doing so. Additionally, the source of the problem is
framed to be the Settlement Act, which the municipalities wish to be more flexible, which all
of the respondents mentioned:
We would have wished for a greater flexibility in the Act if we wanted to
broaden the opportunity for more people to live here. It would have been easy if
it was not a maximum number of people we are allowed to take in. The
Settlement Act is positive because it makes clear for the municipalities what
they have to do, but negative if we would like to do more, as it is not possible.
There are several municipalities in the north of the country who want more
people to move in, who want a greater labour force, and who are good with
integration results (P5).
Not all politicians spoke only of the positive aspects of refugees. When speaking of negative
aspects, though, these did not apply to the region of Jämtald and their municipalities alone,
31
but rather to the reception of refugees in Sweden more generally. When asked about what the
politicians thought about the Settlement Act, two out of eight answered that they thought
Sweden should receive fewer refugees in general, but that if some municipalities wanted to
receive more and were able to gain good results from the integration process, then they should
be allowed to do so:
Krokom municipality is not overpopulated, if I can put it that way. And our
overall result has been good when it comes to integration, especially if you
compare to other municipalities. I do share the opinion with many others that
Sweden as a country needs to receive fewer refugees, but I am against the
distribution of refugees based on a rational ‘equal distribution everywhere’
argument, instead of basing it on where you get the best results (P3)
5.4.2 Solidarity frame
Among the drivers of pro-migration agendas, solidarity and loyalty to other municipalities
that are struggling to implement national policy were present. Other positive attitudes towards
migration were expressed through showing a concern for refugees as a disadvantaged group.
Östersund’s public officials stressed that many municipalities in Sweden were
struggling to manage their responsibilities under the Settlement Act, mainly due to housing
shortages. This is especially applicable for metropolitan regions such as Stockholm, Malmö,
and Gothenburg. Interviewees emphasized that this could lead to refugees not receiving
sustainable housing, leading in turn to a lack of fundamental opportunities through which they
could be fully and positively integrated into the community. In Östersund, public officials
continue to pursue the question of how to help such municipalities who are hospitable toward
refugees but are facing challenges when trying to implement the national-level policy. Hence,
a stronger solidarity framework could be detected in Östersund, one that was not as
equivalently found in Krokom.
The fundamental idea was that we could find a ‘win-win’ situation for everyone.
We have started to discuss with municipalities who are hospitable to refugee
settlement in general but have big challenges. We are looking into whether we
32
can cooperate with these municipalities. If they fail to find residences,
Östersund’s municipality will step in and resettle the migrants in our
municipality instead. Ultimately, it is not a selfish idea, as the fundamental goal
is to find the best opportunities for the refugees (PO7).
I usually put it like this: every person has their needs, which we must try to meet
in the best way. Then there are these pure [...] yes, formal pieces. There is a
housing shortage in many parts of the country, which is the case in Östersund to
some extent as well. But if we look at the county as a whole, there are quite few
municipalities that have a vacant housing stock. Big cities have even more
challenges. Basically the proposal is about finding the best integration
opportunities as possible for the refugees (PO7).
The solidarity frame could also be found in Krokom and Östersund among politicians,
however, only two out of eight politicians put an emphasis on this, showing that welfare was
their most prominent motivating factor. The quotation below demonstrate the ways in which
politicians spoke about the solidarity frame:
The most important motivation for me is that these are people fleeing from war
and they need to be given another chance in life. Everyone that is fleeing can't
live in neighbouring countries such as Iran or Turkey, and if this means that
more inhabitants will come to Östersund, which either way is recruiting people
to come here, it is positive (P12).
5.4.3 Pragmatics
Organisational reasons were also a prominent motivating factor for which municipalities
wished to receive more refugees. This was because, as they themselves stated, it is hard to run
a sensible agency with all the service-related needs when only able to receive a small amount
of refugees annually (approximately seven). This framing was apparent in both Krokom and
Östersund, but more so in Krokom:
33
The discussion has revolved around purley organizational issues. It is not
effective to work with ten individuals when the same organization could work
with fifty or more [...] (P2).
Essentially, the money that we have received has been sufficient, but it is [more
so a question of the volume of migrants. We need about the same organization
whether we receive 7 or 100 refugees. This means that it would be a better deal
for the municipality if we received more. In all industries, there are major
operational advantages and disadvantages [...]” (PO1).
5.5 Politician’s frame precedes the public officials’
As mentioned in the theoretical section, power in the third dimension, or ideological power,
relates to shaping or creating others’ opinions (Lukes, 2005). As such, the question becomes
whether the framing of refugees by public officials preceded that of the politicians, or vice
versa. Among the public officials and politicians in the interviews, six out of eight politicians
ー and all of the public officials ー framed refugees as a welfare gain for both their
municipalities and the region in general, and was the most prominent frame regarding refugee
settlement. It is difficult, however, to decipher whether the public officials’ framing preceded
that of politicians, or the other way around. When studying policy documents from Östersund
and Krokom, there is an emphasis on the problems that the municipalities will face in the near
future, challenges that are specific to the local context. For instance, it is argued in both policy
documents and throughout interviews that municipalities in the northern hinterland face
demographic and labour shortage challenges. In the regional integration strategy for increased
migration and better integration, it is stated that the region of Jämtland is going to actively
work for increased immigration. In the interviews, though, one is still unable to decipher
whether the politicians’ ‘frame’ preceded that of the public officials. It seems, instead, as if
there had been a continuous dialogue between the two groups, arriving at a consensus that, in
order to achieve the political goal of population growth and address the demographic
challenges problems the municipality is facing, increased refugee intake should be among the
solutions.
34
What is interesting is that another frame was detected, the ‘Solidarity frame,’ in
Östersund, which seemed to be a motivating factor for the public officials when working on
the inter-municipal cooperation agreement. When asked how they would present it to the
politicians, they argued that they would emphasize both the fundamental motivation of
solidarity towards refugees as a disadvantaged group, but also solidarity towards
municipalities struggling with implementing national policy. These were both emphasized
while bearing in mind that it would also allow the municipality to achieve other goals such as
population growth. The question is, however, whether this can be interpreted as an attempt by
public officials’ to depart from the established policy of the municipal board, to which the
answer is no. The solidarity frame can be interpreted as part of the public officials’ motivating
factors, but they nonetheless do not challenge the established policy of the municipality.
When drafting the proposals, the motivating factors for public officials stemmed from
wanting refugee groups to have the best possible start in Sweden, yet they still pursued the
proposals in conjunction with what politicians want, namely population growth, also in the
proposition they ended up framing it in the welfare gain frame (for the quote, see section 5.3).
The overall result seems to be that the preferences of the leading politicians preceded those of
the public officials in the framing of the immigration issue in both municipalities. It can thus
be argued that officials do not exert the power in the third dimension of power.
5.6 Implications for Multilevel Governance
In this section, the local-national relation is discussed in response to the restrictive legal and
policy frameworks for refugee settlement policy at the national level. The implications for
MLG will be discussed with the help of Scholten’s (2013) four ideal types of governance.
In both municipalities, the reaction towards a more restrictive national policy
regarding refugee settlement seems to have resulted in the Localist governance ideal type
(Scholten, 2013). In Östersund, a Localist governance ideal type is found, as the Act induced
a bottom-up approach. Public officials try to create horizontal networks with other local
governments, ones which would allow them to receive more refugees and help municipalities
who struggle to implement national policy. The literature on MLG contends that this type of
governance contributes to a divergence of policy frames, because local governments are
responding to unique local circumstances. The municipalities do not agree with the national
35
framing of an equal distribution of refugees everywhere, as they are struggling with either
labour or housing shortages or demographic challenges. These results complicate modes of
governance within multi-level settings, seeing as the way in which the problem is presented,
and the solutions that are offered, differ between the local and national level. Furthermore,
both municipalities attempted vertical venue shopping, with the intent of influencing
national-level policy and changing the Settlement Act towards becoming more flexible.
Nonetheless, despite their efforts, they still have not received attention for this on a broader,
national scale. Indicating that despite possibilities for bottom up input, this isnt always taken
into consideration by the upper levels of government. Even with regards to other migration
policy, namely the ‘EBO’ legislation, discussions have gained salience on the national
political agenda, and a change in the law will be enacted on January 1st, 2020. The new rules
of EBO mean that, among other things, asylum seekers who choose to settle in areas with
socio-economic challenges should not be entitled to daily allowance. The proposal aims to
nudge asylum seekers to choose their residence in places where there are better conditions for
rapid integration, such as greater housing options (Lagrådsremiss, 2019). In light of these
recent events, it seems as though Swedish policy regarding refugee settlement is becoming
increasingly more top-down in its characteristics, while for municipalities such as Östersund
and Krokom, who would like to gain attention around their views on the Settlement Act, it is
becoming more limited.
36
6. DISCUSSION
This study sought to investigate two Swedish municipalities which have vocalised discontent
with the national-level Settlement Act in recent years, due to the fact that they would like to
receive more refugees than the national policy allows for. The study chose to focus on the role
that public officials might have played in influencing this decision and, as such, both
responded and contributed to the scarce literature within the public administration of
migration that focuses on public officials’ influence over refugee settlement policy.
As the findings have shown, public officials possess the power to influence migration
policy within the two first dimensions, decision-making and agenda-setting power, showing
that public officials influence the policy process within refugee settlement as well, expanding
upon Jacobsen (2007) and Högberg (2007). Agenda-setting power specifically was visible at
both the regional and national level, and both municipalities acted similarly within forums of
upper-levels of government. There was divergence, however, between municipalities in how
they acted at the local level. In Östersund, public officials took initiative to both place
questions on the agenda and extensively prepare the basis for such decisions. In contrast,
Krokom’s public officials did not put anything related to it on the local agenda, nor did they
influence the basis for decisions despite being aware of politicians' positive sentiments
towards refugee settlement, perhaps an example of non-decision power as defined by Lukes
(2005). These findings thus demonstrate how public officials exert influence over the policy
process in local municipalities with regards to decisions on refugee settlement. Regarding the
third dimension of power, even though it is hard to measure empirically, it was found that the
politicians’ framing of the subject preceded that of public officials. The thesis also aimed to
study which governance approaches were activated in municipalities at the local level by the
more restrictive national policies, drawing upon Scholtens’ (2013) “ideal types.” The study
indicates that local governments in Sweden handle refugee settlement with a pragmatic view
and focusing on local-level solutions, a finding in line with previous research (see Spencer &
Delvino, 2019; Alexander, 2007; Poppelaars & Scholten, 2008). In this case-study, refugees
were mainly framed as an asset ─ if not a necessity ─ for municipalities to be able to handle
demographic challenges and labour shortages within their cities and regions. These results
complicate modes of governance within multi-level settings, seeing as the way in which the
37
problem is presented, and the solutions that are offered, differ between the local and national
level.
Scholten’s (2013) Localist ideal type was detected as a response to the restrictive
national policy on refugee settlement. Firstly, both of the municipalities in question attempted
to use “vertical venues” to lobby their ideas within the national government. Public officials
stated that whenever they participated in a forum where the national and sub-national levels
were present, they tried to receive attention for their views. Both municipalities invited an
investigator in charge of reforming the Settlement Act to their municipality in order to convey
their position. Furthermore, Östersund created horizontal networks with other local
governments in response to the Reform, as well as trying to create local policies to help them
subvert the law and receive more refugees than allowed by the state. Nonetheless, despite
both municipalities’ efforts to receive a broader audience for their views, particularly at the
national level, they have not yet received an active response from the national government, a
finding in line with previous research which has found that Swedish policy regarding refugee
settlement is particularly hard to change (see: Myrdal, 2017). As such, this thesis argues in
line with Emilsson (2015) that, while there is a place for bottom up influence from local
governments, it is ultimately the national level who decides what will be implemented by
lower level actors. In this particular case, there is no indication from the national level that the
policy will be changed towards becoming more flexible. As indicated, Swedish policy
regarding refugee settlement is becoming increasingly top-down in its characteristics, making
it more difficult for municipalities such as Östersund and Krokom to garner attention for their
stance on the settlement policy. Furthermore, one must question whether the national policy
will be more effective at integrating refugees into Swedish society, as currently it seems as
though newcomers are being shipped between municipalities, making their first years in
Sweden rather confusing. Even though refugees are told that they will be settling in one place,
for example in Danderyd, they might eventually be resettled elsewhere if Danderyd is unable
to find accommodation for them. To make matters more complicated, under Swedish law,
Danderyd’s municipality would still bear the official responsibility for them even if they
resettle. In a similar vein, when there is only a small number of refugees that some
municipalities can accept through the Settlement Act, it becomes hard for these municipalities
to have a sensible integration agency at the municipal level which, in some cases, such as
38
Krokom, leads to them to dismantle the agency. Even though the service-related needs are
still present amongst refugees in Krokom, for example, the municipality will not have the
opportunity to deliver such services. Overall, the question remains whether a top-down policy
of this nature will lead to better integration opportunities, which served as the main goal for
the legislation’s creation.
These findings and this case of conflict between Swedish municipalities and the
national-level might provide many useful insights into migration governance and policy at the
supra-national level as well, specifically in light of the refugee crisis within the EU and
anticipated increases in migrant flows to Europe. This thesis found that policy responses by
public officials and politicians could not be separated from local conditions, such as labor
shortages and population ageing, and that these local variations and challenges should have
been taken into consideration before implementing a national-level refugee policy based on
equal distribution. It is also interesting to study the discrepancies between the assumptions
that form national policy and the actual reality and circumstances of local governments ― the
Settlement Act seems to stem from the belief that all municipalities view refugee reception as
bad, or as a burden, while the municipalities in the case-study view refugees as essential to
deal with future demographic and economic challenges, hence their welcoming approach. The
Act also assumed that equal distribution would aid with full integration of refugees into
Swedish society, however, the findings of this thesis which show the dissolution of integration
agencies because of the national policy might prove that the Act will have the opposite
effects.
39
7. CONCLUSION
This study of two Swedish municipalities and their opposition to the Settlement Act led to
conclusions that are twofold: first and foremost, that public officials exert influence over the
policy process, possessing the power to influence policy-making within the two first
dimensions of power (decision-making and agenda-setting power). Nonetheless, there was
some divergence between the two municipalities in question regarding the ways in which
officials influenced specific outcomes, for example, in Östersund officials put forward much
of the basis for decisions and directly influenced the agenda, while in Krokom, officials did
not do so to the same extent, perhaps alluding to non-decision making power.
Secondly, this research concludes that the national policy seems to have activated a
Localist governance approach, whereby local governments formulate policies of their own,
create networks horizontally with other cities, and attempt to influence policy at the national
level through “vertical venue shopping”. However, despite local-level responses being
apparent, no signs have been given by the national government that the law will change,
leading to the conclusion that despite possibilities for bottom-up input, it is still the upper
levels who ultimately decide what will be implemented by the lower-levels of government.
This is regrettable, seeing as top-down policy, especially in this case, often leads to outcomes
in direct opposition to the goals it set out to achieve, given that it is abstracted from
local-level conditions and needs.
In a broader sense, the research conducted in this study has numerous implications for
national refugee settlement within other conflicts and contexts, for example, in EU-level
discussions regarding equal distributions of refugees across nation-states. This approach
seems to neglect that there can exist vastly different approaches within nations-states of how
local governments respond towards such policies, and could perhaps lead to incoherent or
undesirable outcomes. The Swedish case provides an interesting laboratory to study this
phenomena, given that the differences in municipal responses towards an equal distribution
policy are well-documented and stark.
With regards to future studies, this thesis invites research on the public administration
of migration policy in municipalities that are, by contrast, inhospitable to refugee settlement,
in the hopes of better understanding the main reasons and conditions that result in this
40
inhospitality. As was argued in this thesis, these local-level mechanisms, whether favorable or
unfavorable to refugee settlement, are of utmost importance to understand before
implementing a system based on equal distribution. Finally, future research should also work
to investigate the impacts of refugee settlement policies on the migrants themselves, which,
while being the focus of many studies in the U.S. context, seems to be scarce within European
studies in the field of migration and public administration.
41
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Yeo, J. & Huang, X. (2020) Migration in Public Administration Research: A Systematic Review and Future Directions. International Journal of Public Administration 43(2): pp. 176-187.
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9. APPENDIX
Appendix (A)- Respondents
RESPONDENTS TITLE MUNICIPALITY DATE
RESPONDENT 1 (R1) Public Official Krokom 18/12/19
RESPONDENT 2 (R2) Politician Krokom 18/12/19
RESPONDENT 3 (R3) Politician Krokom 18/12/19
RESPONDENT 4 (R4) Politician Krokom 19/12/19
RESPONDENT 5 (R5) Politician Östersund 20/12/19
RESPONDENT 6 (R6) Public Official Östersund 20/12/19
RESPONDENT 7 (R7) Public Official Östersund 30/12/19
RESPONDENT 8 (R8) Politician Östersund 05/02/20
RESPONDENT 9 (R9) Politician Krokom 29/01/20
RESPONDENT 10 (R10) Public Official Krokom 30/12/19
RESPONDENT 11 (R11) Politician Östersund 30/01/20
RESPONDENT 12 (R12) Politician Östersund 30/01/20
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Appendix (B) - Interview schedule
Öppningsfrågor till tjänstemän -Kan ni beskriva er övergripande arbetsroll? -Hur länge har ni arbetat här? -Hur är mottagandet av nyanlända organiserat i er kommun? -Hur såg flyktingmottagandet i er kommun innan bosättningslagen? -Vad har ni tagit för åtgärder för att klara av kommuntalet? -Hur upplever ni att bosättningslagen fungerar i eran kommun? -Upplever ni att ert tilldelade kommuntal är rimligt? Om nej, varför? -Har kommunen tillräckliga resurser i dagsläget för att klara implementeringen? Om nej, vilket ytterligare stöd hade ni önskat? -Varför anser ni det är positivt/negativt med flyktingmottagande för er kommun? -Hur upplever ni informationen och stödet från statlig nivå med avseende på bosättningslagen? -Har er kommun fått något statsbidrag, I vilken utsträckning har ni utnyttjat statsbidraget? Om inte alls, varför? -Hur upplever ni kommunpolitikernas engagemang i bosättningsfrågan? Har ni samarbeten med andra aktörer, t.ex. kommunala och privata bostadsbolag, ideella organisationer? Om ja, hur har dessa fungerat? Om nej, varför? Agenda sättande -Att gå emot bosättningslagen/varit passiv, hur kommer sig det att det beslutet togs, hur såg processen ut? - Hur kommer det sig att bosättningslagen kom upp på diskussion, vem var det som inledde diskussionen om att krokoms kommun ville bosätta fler flyktingar? - Inför att beslutet skulle tas har ni som arbetat med frågorna gett något underlag för politikerna? - Känner du som tjänsteman att du varit med och påverkat detta beslut? På vilket sätt? - Finns det några motioner om detta från politikens håll?
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-Hur ser ni tjänstemän på beslutet att gå emot bosättningslagen? Beslutsunderlag -Inför beslutet med bosättningslagen, har ni tagit fram underlag till politikerna? -innan bosättningslagen hur såg beslutsprocessen ut då,inför valet att ta emot eller inte? -Har ni skrivit något underlag för politikerna ang flyktingmottagande? -Hur kommer det sig att ni i Krokoms kommun vill ta emot fler flyktingar? Öppningsfrågor till politikerna Vilket parti tillhör du? Hur länge har du suttit i kommunfullmäktige? Samspelet mellan tjänstemän och politiker. -Hur upplever ni att bosättningen har fungerat i eran kommun/ före och under bosättningslagen? -Ställer ni er positivt eller negativt till flyktingmottagandet? -Vad är det negativa/positiva med bosättningslagen? -Vad skulle ni vilja ändra? -Hur ofta träffar du och pratar med tjänstemän som arbetar med bosättningsfrågor? -Vad pratar ni om då? -Hur har samspelet mellan er politiker och tjänstemän sett ut när det kommer till bosättningsfrågan? vem är det som drivit frågan främst med att gå emot bosättningslagen? -Har det tagits ett formellt beslut att gå emot bosättningslagen, eller hur har diskussionen sett ut kring detta sett ut mellan tjänstemän och politiker? -Har ni gett några direktiv till tjänstemännen hur ni vill att de skulle arbeta med bosättningsfrågor innan bosättningslagen/under? -Hur tolkar ni tjänstemännens underlag i ert beslut att ta emot flyktingar/inte? Vad väger tyngst?
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