The Changing Praxis of 'Generosity': Swedish Refugee Policy during the 1990s

This paper examines continuity and change in Swedish refugee policy during the 1990s. A major reform of the Aliens Act, effective as of January 1997, changed the categories of people who could be given asylum, extended the possibilities to grant temporary protection, and narrowed the rules for the immigration of relatives (family ties). A consensus across party blocs has made these policy changes possible, since the Social Democratic Government could not have passed the Bill through parliament without the support of its main political opponent, the Moderate Party. Although the two parties are commonly perceived as each other's main adversaries, co-operation between the Social Democratic Party and the Moderate Party on matters of refugee policy making has been a recurring pattern.