ABSTRACT
Sweden’s reputation and self-image as a country of international solidarity and liberal universalism has been cultivated by Swedish governments for more than half a century, visible, among other things, in Sweden’s comparatively open and liberal approach to migration and refugees. Following the large inflow of refugees and asylum-seekers in the Fall of 2015, however, the Swedish government introduced a series of restrictions that call into question the cosmopolitan ethos of Swedish immigration policy. This chapter examines the motivations and effects of these restrictions and discusses whether they amount to a paradigmatic shift in Swedish immigration policy. The analysis moves from the concept of cosmopolitanism and the Swedish model to an examination of (long-term) changes from cosmopolitan to nation-centered values and priorities. In the final discussion, it is concluded that the Swedish development is best characterized as a crisis of realities, which is likely to entail lasting changes of values.
