Scandinavian Approaches to Begging as a Policy Problem and the Double Insider/Outsider Status of Marginalized Intra-EU Migrants

Karin Borevi

doi:10.1017/s0047279421000556

Abstract

AbstractThe present article investigates how begging performed by citizens of new EU-member states in Eastern Europe was debated in parliaments in Denmark, Sweden and Norway during the period 2007–2017. The empirical analysis shows significant cross-country divergences: In Denmark, efforts targeted controlling migration, either directly or indirectly, via various deterrence strategies. In Sweden, the emphasis was rather on alleviating social needs while migrants reside in the country and trying to decrease their incentives to migrate in the first place by ameliorating conditions in sending countries. In Norway, one predominant framing revolved around the issue of human trafficking of beggars. Despite substantial differences, the analyses show a gradual shift in a similar direction in all three countries. While a social frame was initially more commonly understood as the appropriate way to approach begging, over time a criminal frame has gained ground in all three countries. The article argues that this development must be understood in light of marginalized intra-EU migrants’ legal status as both insiders and outsiders in the Scandinavian welfare states. Due to these individuals’ “in-between status”, neither conventional social policy nor immigration control measures are perceived as available, making policymakers more prone to turn to criminal policy tools.

Highlights

A few years into the new millennium, begging as a policy problem surfaced in political debates across Denmark, Norway and Sweden, as people begging on the streets, outside grocery stores and on public transport became a new and visible trend
Concluding discussion Focusing on policy debates in Denmark, Norway and Sweden triggered by the presence of intra-EU migrants begging in public, the present article has analyzed differences between the three Scandinavian countries as well as changes over the period
The results show significant cross-country divergences, regarding how the issue was initially framed when it surfaced in national policy debates

Summary

Introduction

A few years into the new millennium, begging as a policy problem surfaced in political debates across Denmark, Norway and Sweden, as people begging on the streets, outside grocery stores and on public transport became a new and visible trend. 4. The Scandinavian context As already mentioned, the selection of Denmark, Norway and Sweden is justified by their similarities in welfare state ideology and organization, which would cause us to expect predominance of the social frame in relation to issues like begging, homelessness, etc.

Results

Conclusion