VEM ANSES VARA ANSVARIG FÖR MIGRATIONSPOLITIKEN? - En dagspress-studie om debatten inom politiska och humanitära ansvarsfrågor i Sverige och Norge under 2016-2018

Abstract

The EU launched a new migration policy in 2016. The policy itself and the EU has faced criticism in the daily press and there is a confusion regarding who is responsible for the migrations policy’s successful development. This thesis aims to distinguish who is implicated to be responsible for the migration policy: the union itself or the respective member states? The debate in daily press in Sweden and Norway – an EU member versus a non – EU member – is selected to study due to their different relations to the EU. To study how the daily press expresses the perceived responsibilities, qualitative content analysis combined with the Social Representation Theory (SRT) has been chosen. SRT explains how the daily press has an impact on people’s beliefs and therefore also how states are governed by “naming” something unfamiliar, it becomes communicative and transforms to something that becomes “common sense”. The result shows that the responsibility is complex. The responsibility is shared between the states and the EU, in political and humanitarian areas, but on different levels. It is in the nation’s own interest to find solid solutions – although, it’s perceived to be EU that has the responsibility for the policy’s development and success.