Once heralded as a model of egalitarian democracy, Sweden’s welfare state, folkhemmet , “the people’s home,” has undergone a subtle yet consequential transformation. This article diagnoses how the erosion of universal welfare and the rise of neoliberal governance have given way to a racialized “governance of suspicion,” wherein Muslim civic actors are conditionally included only through ideological conformity, cultural transparency, and affective restraint. This transformation reflects not only an institutional shift, but a deeper moral and political reordering of Sweden’s civic contract. Grounded in Islamophobia Studies and interpretive policy analysis, the study argues that this reordering has reconfigured folkbildning , Sweden’s long-standing tradition of popular civic education, from a site of democratic empowerment into a mechanism of normative filtration. What once promised pluralistic engagement now disciplines Muslim visibility through ambiguous tests of “democratic values.” Through close analysis of the defunding of Sveriges Unga Muslimer Sweden’s Young Muslims (SUM) and the Ibn Rushd Study Association, the article shows how Muslim organizations are systematically marginalized under the guise of civic neutrality and democratic rights paradigm. These cases exemplify a broader civic realignment, from folkhemmet , the inclusive welfare ideal, to svenskhemmet , a narrowed, ethnonationalist civic order, where the contract of solidarity is narrowed and belonging becomes racialized. The study calls for a critical reassessment of civic inclusion, urging a shift from conditional recognition to genuine pluralist equality.
Emin Poljarević (Thu,) studied this question.