Mid Sweden University

Highlights:

- Political party visits prompt students to interpret and evaluate their openness to politics.

- Students’ experiences are shaped by classroom climate, group dynamics, and personal relevance.

- Authentic dialogue and balanced representation increase students’ trust in politics.

- Poorly structured visits may reinforce cynicism and political disengagement.

Purpose: This article examines how upper secondary students in Sweden experience political party visits to school, and how these encounters can be understood in relation to democratic learning.

Design/methodology/approach: Based on seven focus group interviews across three schools with varying exposure to party visits, the study adopts an inductive thematic analysis to explore how students experience and make sense of these encounters.

Findings: Students experienced the visits as social encounters rather than lessons, assessing politics as a practice. Engagement was shaped by relational dynamics and visit design, with well-prepared and balanced encounters fostering credibility and interest, while poorly planned visits had the opposite effect.

Research limitations/implications: Due to a relatively small sample, caution is warranted when generalising the findings. Future studies should examine broader contexts and use complementary methods.

Practical implications: Schools should ensure equitable access, prepare students, and create resp

A neglected dimension of housing policy is how municipalities use it as a gatekeeping mechanism to exclude vulnerable groups and thereby control their territory. To examine this topic, we apply a systematic review that draws on the international academic literature and utilizes three bibliometric analyses. First, statistical analysis reveals the field’s growth and how it is characterized by publications often combining an impressive set of data and methods. Second, the material is explored through network analysis, emphasizing how a few important journals lead the distribution of knowledge. Finally, a thematic analysis highlights consistency in the detrimental effects of exclusionary policies across different contexts. A distinction between planned excluding practices and policies with such unintended effects are also evident. The analysis underscores the conflict between individual responsibilities and societal obligations, where current policies tend to place substantial burdens on the individual.

This report examines the evolution, structure, and impact of the IntegrationNetwork in Västernorrland (INA) from 1985 to 2024. Through a combination ofdocument analysis, media reviews, interviews, and statistical data, the studyexplores how INA has supported the reception and integration of newly arrivedmigrants in the region. The analysis is structured chronologically, highlights keyprojects and milestones and includes a network analysis and demographicmapping of migration patterns. The report identifies INA as a flexible,collaborative platform that has shifted from informal cooperation to aninstitutionalized regional actor. The findings emphasize the importance of localknowledge, strategic collaboration and development of joint solutions inaddressing migration challenges. Key lessons from the 40-year history of INA offervaluable insights for future integration policy and practice, both withinVästernorrland and beyond.

Denna rapport undersöker Integrationsnätverket i Västernorrlands (INA)utveckling, struktur och betydelse under perioden 1985–2024. Genom analys avdokument, mediematerial, statistik och intervjuer med nyckelaktörer kartläggsnätverkets roll i att samordna mottagande och integrationsinsatser i länet. Studienpresenterar en kronologisk genomgång av centrala projekt och initiativ,kompletterad med nätverksanalys och demografisk statistik över flyttmönster ochbefolkningssammansättning. Resultaten visar hur INA utvecklats från ettinformellt forum till en institutionaliserad samverkansstruktur med förmåga attanpassa sig till förändrade samhällsförhållanden. Nätverket har varit avgörandeför erfarenhetsutbyte, strategisk samordning och utveckling av gemensammalösningar. Rapportens slutsatser betonar vikten av lokal kunskap, flexibelorganisering och långsiktigt lärande för att stärka integrationsarbetet – både iVästernorrland och i andra regioner med liknande utmaningar.

This study focuses on an overlooked dimension of housing policy, namely how housing can serve as a mean to exclude vulnerable groups in general, and more specifically immigrants, from long-term settlement. Research in this area is dispersed across various disciplines. To survey the field and explore how local decision-makers can utilize housing policy as a tool for gatekeeping and thus exclude vulnerable groups, we employ a systematic literature review. It consists of two main parts: the first one concentrates on the international literature on the subject, while the second investigates the Swedish context.The international review is based on a sophisticated search in the broader international scholarly literature and is analyzed through (i) statistical analysis, (ii)network analysis, and (iii) thematic analysis. The Swedish part draws on so called grey literature,analyzed through a thematic analysis.The results indicate, among other findings, that policies aimed at excluding vulnerable groups share similarities either in their design or in their consequential effects, regardless of the context in which the policy is applied. It is also evident how the literature distinguishes between policies that intentionally exclude and those that unintentionally exclude. In a Swedish context, the results indicate that municipalities in Sweden interpret their housing supply responsibility differently, leading to inequality and deviations from the principle of equal treatment. The analysis also demonstrates that economic resources and the design of laws and regulations play a crucial role in the outcome of housing policy. Notably, the phenomenon of social dumping occupies a central role in the Swedish literature. Both analyses indicate a norm shift regarding society's responsibility versus individual responsibility in housing supply issues, and that the lack of adequate housing is a significant problem both in Sweden and in many other countries.

Denna studie fokuserar på en förbisedd dimension av bostadspolitiken, nämligen hur den kan användas som ett verktyg för att utestänga utsatta grupper från långsiktig bosättning. Vi fokuserar både på socialt och ekonomiskt utsatta grupper och mer specifikt på personer med flyktingbakgrund. Forskningen inom detta område förekommer i ett flertal olika discipliner. För att överblicka fältet och undersöka hur lokala beslutsfattare kan använda bostadspolitiken som ett verktyg för att agera grindvakter och därigenom utestänga utsatta grupper, tillämpar vi en systematisk litteraturöversikt. Den omfattar två huvuddelar: den första fokuserar på den internationella litteraturen inom ämnet, medan den andra undersöker den svenska. Den internationella översikten bygger på en sofistikerad sökning i den internationella vetenskapliga litteraturen och analyseras (i) statistiskt, genom (ii)nätverksanalyser och genom (iii) en tematisk analys. Den svenska delen utgår från s.k. grå litteratur som inte är granskad genom peer review (som exempelvis avhandlingar, myndighetsraporter) och analyseras endast genom en tematiskanalys. Resultaten visar att olika sorters politik som syftar till att utestänga utsatta grupper har snarlika effekter oavsett i vilket sammanhang som politiken tillämpas. I litteraturen görs en distinktion mellan metoder som avsiktligt utesluter respektive när detta blir en oavsiktlig konsekvens. Att kommuner i Sverige tolkar sitt bostadsförsörjningsansvar olika, leder till ojämlikhet och avsteg från likabehandlingsprincipen. Analysen visar också att lagar och reglers utformning samt ekonomiska resurser spelar en viktig roll i utfallet av förd bostadspolitik. Inte minst intar fenomenet social dumpning en central roll i den svenska litteraturen. Noterbart i analysen av både den svenska och internationella litteraturen är att det skett en normförskjutning kring vad som är samhällets ansvar kontra individens ansvar i bostadsförsörjningsfrågan, men också att bristen på adekvata bostäder förutsatta grupper är ett allvarligt problem både i Sverige och i många andra länder.