En symbol går i graven - en studie av förslaget om Utlänningsnämndens nedläggning och införandet av en ny instans- och processordning i utlänningsärenden

Sammanfattning: Motives and reasons behind a decision to change the asylum process in Sweden are the central concern for this thesis. A symbolic political perspective will be applied in order to elucidate the symbolic factors that have influenced the decision process. The Aliens Appeal Board in Sweden will close down at the end of March 2006 and all pending and future cases will henceforth be decided by three administrative courts. This will be done in order to enhance the principles of legal certainty by making the process more transparent and oral. It is an extensive reform, but since very few amendments are made to the applicable substantive law it raises questions about the actual motives behind the change. One reason that seems to have had a major impact on the decision to close down the Aliens Appeal Board is the fact that the board is perceived as a symbol for an inhuman asylum policy. Transferring the process to the courts might ease the attempt to increase the legitimacy of the asylum process. A, partly, symbolic change of the procedural "framework" might also compensate for the difficulties in reconciling a regulated asylum policy with the public understanding of humanity and justice.