The role of religion and the power of civil society actors in integration governance in rural contexts

Abstract

The capacity and willingness to provide housing, welfare, and cater for a socially based integration for newly arrived migrants and refugees varies significantly between, and within, European countries. Social care and provisions are often caught up in legal processes between the municipalities, state authorities, and private actors, placing refugees in limbo. In the vacuum that is produced by multilevel migration- and integration governance, Civil Society Organisations (CSO), Faith-based organisations (FBO), and volunteers have taken an unprecedented social responsibility in organising and complementing the scattered efforts provided by public authorities. In the rural areas of Sweden, services and welfare provisions are scarce, yet, more migrants are directed to these areas due to the Settlement law adopted in 2016, following the Swedish migration crisis in the fall of 2015. The Swedish Church is an organisation that has full national and geographical coverage and which has been prolific in its effort to support and cater for migration in rural areas. This study analyses the effort of the Swedish Church to accommodate refugees in rural areas as an altruistic actor coping with value-conflicts, religious aspects, and identities within, and in relation to, public authorities and other organisations.