Borderwork in times of crisis? Control, care and the resource of emotion
Creators: name: Dowle, Lewis John
Publisher: name: The University of St Andrews
Year: 2023
Subjects: subject: Borders
subject: Political geography
subject: Borderwork
subject: Sweden
subject: Denmark
subject: Refugees
subject: Migrants
subject: Migration crisis
subject: Refugee crisis
subject: Political moments
subject: (Co)relationality
subject: European Union
subject: EU
subject: Schengen
subject: Populism
subject: Emotion
subject: Fear
subject: Anger
subject: Border control
subject: Border checks
subject: Identity control
subject: Deportability
subject: Asylum
subject: Asylum policy
subject: Malmö
subject: Unaccompanied minors
subject: Posthusplatsen
subject: Mourning
subject: Bordering
subject: Debordering
subject: Biopolitics
subject: Acts of citizenship
subject: Borderscapes
subject: Securitisation
subject: Sovereignty
subject: Crisis
subject: Europe
subject: Syria
subject: Syrian civil war
subject: Islam
subject: Semi-structured interviews
subject: Discourse analysis
subject: Care
subject: Third sector
subject: Charity
subject: Agenda
subject: Resource
subject: Is this Sweden?
subject: Suspicion
subject: Civil society
subject: Chris Rumford
subject: Rumford
subject: Humanitarian
subject: State
subject: Multiperspectival
subject: Territory
subject: Hyllie
subject: Trelleborg
subject: Danish
subject: Swedish
subject: Government
subject: Sweden Democrats
subject: Law
subject: FOS: Law
subject: Governance
subject: Swedish Migration Agency
subject: Discourse
subject: Immigration
subject: Language
subject: Narrative
subject: Nostalgia
subject: Parallel society
subject: UNHCR
subject: Border studies
subject: Signal politics
subject: Other
subject: Pre-emption
subject: Biometric
subject: Dublin Regulation
subject: Exception
subject: New normal
subject: Normalisation
subject: Agamben
subject: Kontrapunkt
subject: Solidarity
subject: Church of Sweden
subject: Roma
subject: Criminalisation

description: This thesis explores an internal EU border in Northern Europe during a ‘crisis’ scenario. In the aftermath of the Syrian Civil War, during 2015 Sweden received 160,000 applications for asylum, the third highest total number in Europe. Consequently, Sweden introduced three forms of border controls to restrict numbers, marking a significant shift in Swedish asylum policy. This thesis engages with the notion of ‘political moments’ concerning how occasions of heightened visibilities could be appropriated and brought into the political milieu in Sweden and Denmark during 2015-2016 and subsequently used in the operations of borderwork by state and non-state actors. Borderwork is understood in this thesis in a Rumfordian manner, where state and non-state actors can contribute to actions of bordering and debordering. The thesis analyses Sweden’s border controls, grounded in particular contextualities and operating within a specific EU legal framework. This thesis draws on semi-structured interviews with 53 individuals primarily from the state and civil society in both countries. Complexities within and between civil society and the state concerning borderwork are shown as being interpenetrating, and the state’s pervasive extension is explored through ‘the Snake’ and Posthusplatsen. Emotion as a political resource (which can be appealed to, framed and (re)produced to shape discourses) is analysed and seen vis-à-vis the political left and right as a mobilising force in both bordering and debordering. Finally, and as part of this, the notion of mourning is explored concerning the evocative question: Is this Sweden?