Xenophobic Violence and Ethnic Conflict at the Local Level: Lessons from the Scandinavian Experience

Abstract

Abstract Violent attacks against asylum seekers and labour migrants increasingly became considered a serious problem in Scandinavia during the late 1980s and early 1990s. Several local communities in Sweden and Norway in particular came into focus as strongholds for racist groups and their violent activities. However, these attacks gave rise to widely different interpretations. Some regarded the violence as expressions of racism and xenophobia, orchestrated by far-right organizations. Others saw the violence as a ‘natural response’ from locals who felt they are being swarmed by unwanted aliens, and that the violent outbursts indicated that the population’s ‘natural threshold’ for assimilating foreigners has been exceeded. Still others considered the violent incidents as ‘boyish tricks and drunken pranks’, carried out by the usual local trouble makers. Obviously, these divergent interpretations provided frameworks for highly different types of responses to the violence.