Från nytta till belastning : En jämförelse av svenska partiledares perspektiv på invandring och positionering i invandringsrelaterade debatter 2014 och 2017

Sammanfattning: The autumn 2015 represented a critical juncture for Swedish migration politics. Prime Minister Löfven’s government tightened immigration policies in accordance with proposals made since long by the radical right wing party the Sweden Democrats (SD). But did the critical juncture and the following migration policies involve new political strategies against SD, and how have the mainstream parties’ leaders’ perspective on immigration been affected? The analysis is based on systemic functional grammar and scholarly literature concerning perspectives on immigration. Policy proposals, party leaders’ perspectives on immigration and party leaders’ positioning in immigration-related television debates from 2014 and 2017 are compared. The results confirm previous research showing that there was a strong convergence amongst mainstream parties 2014, in migration politics as well as in positioning against SD. In 2017, the migration issue has split up into more detailed issues like family reunification, temporary residence permits and differentiated welfare. The utility perspective on immigration was salient in 2014. In 2017, two new central perspectives on immigration were constructed: the strain perspective and the reversed rights perspective. The study suggests that immigration-related issues has gone from being a forum for distance making between mainstream parties and SD, to be like any other issue – a forum for the usual political dynamics between governing parties and opposition.