Exploring Sweden and South Africa’s Responses to Mass Migration during the Period 2015–2019

Sweden and South Africa are two major transnational destinations and attract large numbers of refugees and migrants, primarily due to their ease of immigration policies. Besides their unique historical relations which can be traced back to as early as the 1890s, both countries continue to experienc...

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Main Authors: Pragna Rugunanan, Celine Meyers
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: University of Johannesburg 2023-02-01
Series:The Thinker
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.uj.ac.za/index.php/The_Thinker/article/view/2360
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author Pragna Rugunanan
Celine Meyers
author_facet Pragna Rugunanan
Celine Meyers
author_sort Pragna Rugunanan
collection DOAJ
description Sweden and South Africa are two major transnational destinations and attract large numbers of refugees and migrants, primarily due to their ease of immigration policies. Besides their unique historical relations which can be traced back to as early as the 1890s, both countries continue to experience high volumes of mass migration and forced mobility which peaked in 2015. Following the so-called ‘Syrian refugee crisis’, Sweden witnessed the second largest asylum applications in Europe. At around the same time, South Africa experienced its highest backlog of asylum applications. It is against this backdrop of a long and diverse history of relations and ongoing migration that we seek to engage with the responses of both countries to mass migration using a comparative approach. The article presents a historical perspective of migration between Sweden and South Africa and examines their ongoing migration policy debates. It concludes with an analysis of current political contestations and some key lessons for each country.
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spelling doaj-art-e28e924b817646549be4016c5690c3c42025-01-28T09:01:58ZengUniversity of JohannesburgThe Thinker2075-24582616-907X2023-02-0194110.36615/the_thinker.v94i1.2360Exploring Sweden and South Africa’s Responses to Mass Migration during the Period 2015–2019Pragna Rugunanan0https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7430-9201Celine Meyers1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6247-3562University of JohannesburgUniversity of Johannesburg Sweden and South Africa are two major transnational destinations and attract large numbers of refugees and migrants, primarily due to their ease of immigration policies. Besides their unique historical relations which can be traced back to as early as the 1890s, both countries continue to experience high volumes of mass migration and forced mobility which peaked in 2015. Following the so-called ‘Syrian refugee crisis’, Sweden witnessed the second largest asylum applications in Europe. At around the same time, South Africa experienced its highest backlog of asylum applications. It is against this backdrop of a long and diverse history of relations and ongoing migration that we seek to engage with the responses of both countries to mass migration using a comparative approach. The article presents a historical perspective of migration between Sweden and South Africa and examines their ongoing migration policy debates. It concludes with an analysis of current political contestations and some key lessons for each country. https://journals.uj.ac.za/index.php/The_Thinker/article/view/2360SwedenSouth AfricaMass Migration
spellingShingle Pragna Rugunanan
Celine Meyers
Exploring Sweden and South Africa’s Responses to Mass Migration during the Period 2015–2019
The Thinker
Sweden
South Africa
Mass Migration
title Exploring Sweden and South Africa’s Responses to Mass Migration during the Period 2015–2019
title_full Exploring Sweden and South Africa’s Responses to Mass Migration during the Period 2015–2019
title_fullStr Exploring Sweden and South Africa’s Responses to Mass Migration during the Period 2015–2019
title_full_unstemmed Exploring Sweden and South Africa’s Responses to Mass Migration during the Period 2015–2019
title_short Exploring Sweden and South Africa’s Responses to Mass Migration during the Period 2015–2019
title_sort exploring sweden and south africa s responses to mass migration during the period 2015 2019
topic Sweden
South Africa
Mass Migration
url https://journals.uj.ac.za/index.php/The_Thinker/article/view/2360
work_keys_str_mv AT pragnarugunanan exploringswedenandsouthafricasresponsestomassmigrationduringtheperiod20152019
AT celinemeyers exploringswedenandsouthafricasresponsestomassmigrationduringtheperiod20152019