Between Securitization and Counter-Securitization: Church of Sweden Opposing the Turn of Swedish Government Migration Policy

Abstract

Taking our point of departure in securitization theory the aim is to analyze how the Lutheran Church of Sweden responded when the Swedish Government in late autumn 2015 made a sudden halt to a previously generous posture towards refugees. Applying the concept of counter-securitization we demonstrate how the Archbishop, and other Church leaders, strongly contested this official policy shift, legitimating their standpoint by referring to a radical, cosmopolitan reading of the gospel. Employees and lay members were mobilized to support immigrants through protest, everyday service, consultation and lobbying. Articulating a view that securitization should not be reserved for cases of a perceived existential military threat is highly relevant for the debate about the role of religion and secularism. Securitization and countersecuritization appear as two complementary approaches, where the Church may stand up as a bulwark defending immigration rights in contradistinction to retrotopian and xenophobic interpretations of the gospel. We contribute to this field by illustrating how research should not be caught in a onedimensional reading of 'security' and 'securitization', but has to be interpreted within a non-linear, non-binary framework, with a sensitive ear to different political, cultural, social and religious contexts, not forgetting the time dimension.

Language as Hope

“…mega-events in Rio de Janeiro. These metadiscourses, associated with sociolinguistic and digital strategies of denouncing police abuses and human rights violations, point to the potent "counter-securitization" in Rio de Janeiro's favelas (Fridolfson & Elander, 2021;Rampton, Silva, & Charalambous, 2022) that is, resistance to securitization as the exceptional use of force against an enemy through tactics that may ultimately move security to a more democratic ground.…”

Governance and planning in a ‘perfect storm’: Securitising climate change, migration and Covid-19 in Sweden

“…Little by little other alleged ‘threats’ were also brought to the table by the political opposition, such as ‘lack of Swedishness’, ‘Islamism’, ‘otherness’, ‘crumbling national cohesion’, ‘terrorism’, ‘drugs and criminal gang fights resulting in shootings and bombings’. The metaphorical immigrant thus served as a legitimizing reference to a faltering welfare state and failed social integration ( Fridolfsson & Elander, 2021 ). ‘Flyktingkrisen’ [the refugee crisis] became the buzzword widely used – and still is - to signal ‘threat’ and ‘crises’ to the population as a ‘watershed in the Swedish context’ resulting in … a change in the discursive constructions of Sweden’s role in the EU and Sweden’s relation to other European countries, but also of EU’s ability to come up with reasonable responses to asylum immigration at all.…”

“…Despite the perceived fears and threats ascribed to refugees and other immigrants there are extensive counter-securitisation efforts made by individuals, faith-based organizations (FBOs) and temporary action groups, although in relation to real need their actions could just be complementary ( Fridolfsson & Elander, 2021 ). Still, like in other European countries they represent a non-negligible, counter-securitising force insisting upon a welcoming attitude in favor of de-securitisation , ‘… the shifting of issues out of emergency mode and into the normal bargaining processes of the political sphere’ ( Buzan el al., 1998, 4 ) or in the words of Huysmans, they represent an ‘… ethical-political judgment that allows discussing security questions in relation to immigrants and refugees without reifying them as existential dangers’ ( Huysmans, 2006 , 127).…”

“…Although Church of Sweden in year 2000 separated with the state and received the status as one of many free-church and non-Christian faith-communities it still enjoys an incomparable position as one FBO in the Swedish society, not least by the physical presence of their 3,500 church buildings throughout the country. The official stand by the Church of Sweden and many other religious and secular associations thus remain in a position of counter-securitization, withholding that migration should not be considered on par with an existential military threat and expressing a Christian duty-ethical position saying that mobility across national borders is a basic human right in contrast to securitized references like ‘the welfare state’, ‘national security’, ‘social cohesion’ or ‘ethnic homogeneity’( Fridolfsson & Elander, 2021 ) .…”

“… 3 Notably there is a link here to Church of Sweden’s Sunday service liturgic text reading that starts with: ‘Open your hearts to God and listen to today’s holy Gospel’ (Svenska Kyrkan 2018, 67; our translation; see Fridolfsson and Elander (2021) for an analysis of the counter-position of Church of Sweden as a defender of migrants’ rights). …”