What's the Problem with Responsible Internationalisation? Analysis of Discursive Shifts in Swedish Higher Education Policy

Focusing on the concept of Responsible Internationalisation (RI) in national policy on Swedish higher education (HE) between 2017 and 2024, this study applies Bacchi's (2009, 2016) What's the Problem Represented to Be? (WPR) framework to analyse discursive change. The findings reveal a shift from solidaristic framings of internationalisation as a common good towards increasingly strategic rationales centred on competitiveness, security, and institutional protection. This shift reconfigures the ideological and epistemological foundations of internationalisation, moving from ethical and reciprocal orientations towards technocratic and risk-oriented governance logics. While articulated through normative language, RI functions primarily as a governance device that reorganises responsibility around control and risk management. Situating the Swedish case within wider international debates, the study contributes to critical understandings of internationalisation policy and its implications for equity, academic values, and global collaboration.