Whenever I go home to Senegal and meet new people, I often hear things such as, “Oh, you’re so lucky to live there” or “I’m still trying to find figure out a way to go there.” These statements tend to shock me because while I love the United States, I feel that it is far from perfect. The United States currently faces many issues, including negative rhetoric advertised in the news and fueled by Donald Trump, the injustices minority communities experience, and stricter immigration laws (it is a lot harder to immigrate to the country now then back in the early 1990s when my parents first traveled to the country). Despite these issues, much of the developing world views the United States as the land of opportunity and growth.
Given this information, when I arrived Scandinavia I should have been more critical of Denmark’s status as one of the happiest countries in the world, and of Sweden’s reputation for being a welcoming society. Although there is a level of truth to both of these surface-level assumptions, I have learned to look beyond them and to critically analyze how these societies are treating migrants and refugees. Before discussing the current state of affairs in these countries, it is important to understand their backgrounds and histories.
Sweden has always been well-known for welcoming all people into its society. It is often viewed as being a multicultural state, largely because of its early efforts to provide immigrants with services, including its long-standing welfare system. More specifically, “the welfare system that was established in Sweden after World War II” was seen as “an Integration project”[1]. From the 1950s through the 2000s, Sweden had to figure out how to balance its universal welfare system with the influx of immigrants. These possibly conflictual elements led to the creation of a multicultural policy[2]. Though this policy was not perfectly implemented by the government, the world viewed Sweden’s efforts as the flagship of multiculturalism in Europe. Sweden has also historically had open borders, unlike its neighboring country, Denmark. This approach to immigration continues to influence how Swedes perceive immigrants today.
Unlike Sweden, which focused its efforts on immigration, Denmark heavily focused on the development of its welfare system[3]. The welfare system is something that many Danes are proud of, and back when the Danish population was more homogenous, it garnered greater support, as it appeared that everyone was contributing to the welfare system equally. Denmark is also a nationalist state, and many ethnic Danes want Denmark to retain its culture and to remain as Danish as possible. Despite Denmark’s homogenous population, the country is greatly influenced by the various levels of migration it has encountered throughout history. In a similar vein, “immigration…has been seen as both an asset for Danish society and as a threat to it.” The Danes have had to reevaluate their policies to deal with the growing changes in population demographics.
I think that Denmark and Sweden are both wonderful countries, but they are far from perfect, especially in how they treat migrants and refugees. In my next blog, I will continue my discussion of the contrasts in these countries by giving a brief overview of how Danes and Swedes are currently approaching the issue of immigration and integration.
1. Karin Borevi, Sweden: The Flagship of Multiculturalism, Immigration Policy and the Scandinavian Welfare State (Palgrave, 1945-2010), 2.
2. Borevi, 89.
3. H. Vad Jønsson & K. Petersen, Denmark; a Welfare State Meets the World, Immigration Policy and the Scandinavian Welfare State (Palgrave, 1945-2010), xx.
Opens in a new window