I väntan på asyl. Retorik och praktik i svensk flyktingpolitik.

The purpose of my research is to examine the translation of logos into praxis in the handling of asylum-cases in Sweden. My point of departure has been the manner in which society has organised the handling of asylum-cases and the structure of this organisation. My thesis contains an account of an individual case which is representative of a multitude of problems in the asylum case handling. Caseworkers as well as decision-makers are pressed for time, meanwhile, adequate guidelines for the quality of their performance have been neglected. I deal with the generalising portrayal of the refugee - the border transgressor - and the decision-maker - the border protector. I also deal with the issue of blaming, which exists on all levels and areas of the field. A culture of mistrust has been permitted to develop within the system, nourished by a confusion of the concepts “reality” and “truth”. The power to make decisions is coupled with a high degree of personal abandonment in the system. To a large extent the functionaries avoid the ethical problems by maintaining that they are objective in their judgement, by limiting themselves to quantitative data, or by pointing out that it is parliament, which enacts the laws that they merely implement. Finally, I deal with what access asylum-seekers have to qualitatively fair and just treatment. The various actors on the refugee arena do not have enough knowledge about the each other’s perspectives, qualifications, mandate, work situation and loyalties. Although these actors are actually participants in the same symbolic struggle, there is no trust between them. In the study I have found it suitable to use the labyrinth as a metaphor for the asylum process