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The ‘Humanitarianisation’ of civil society : Legal tensions, unaccompanied youth and homelessness in Malmö

Solano, Priscilla LU (2024) In Nordic Journal of Social Research 15(01). p.1-1
Abstract
This article highlights the restructuring of the Swedish welfare state through looking at how a humanitarian logic has entered civil society at a local level around the issue of precarious housing for unaccompanied youth. Drawing on existing literature on ‘humanitarian reason’ (Fassin 2011) and ‘humanitarian citizenship’ (Cabot 2019), the article explores the 2019 ‘crisis’ affecting unaccompanied youth as they turned 18, and how civil society morphed into emergency organisations in Malmö, Sweden. Focus is specifically centred on shifts in law and policy, and rewritten guidelines that limit access to housing support. As responsibility for issues such as homelessness are displaced onto the individual by social services, the article argues... (More)
This article highlights the restructuring of the Swedish welfare state through looking at how a humanitarian logic has entered civil society at a local level around the issue of precarious housing for unaccompanied youth. Drawing on existing literature on ‘humanitarian reason’ (Fassin 2011) and ‘humanitarian citizenship’ (Cabot 2019), the article explores the 2019 ‘crisis’ affecting unaccompanied youth as they turned 18, and how civil society morphed into emergency organisations in Malmö, Sweden. Focus is specifically centred on shifts in law and policy, and rewritten guidelines that limit access to housing support. As responsibility for issues such as homelessness are displaced onto the individual by social services, the article argues that the situation of housing as humanitarian for unaccompanied youth is yet another symptom of the erosion of the social democratic welfare state in Sweden. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Nordic Journal of Social Research
volume
15
issue
01
pages
17 pages
publisher
Universitetsforlaget AS
external identifiers
  • scopus:85213282355
ISSN
1892-2783
DOI
10.18261/njsr.15.1.6
language
English
LU publication?
no
id
e90c80d5-f124-47e1-85bd-cc0a143f37ed
date added to LUP
2025-08-12 13:52:43
date last changed
2025-08-14 11:04:36
@article{e90c80d5-f124-47e1-85bd-cc0a143f37ed,
  abstract     = {{This article highlights the restructuring of the Swedish welfare state through looking at how a humanitarian logic has entered civil society at a local level around the issue of precarious housing for unaccompanied youth. Drawing on existing literature on ‘humanitarian reason’ (Fassin 2011) and ‘humanitarian citizenship’ (Cabot 2019), the article explores the 2019 ‘crisis’ affecting unaccompanied youth as they turned 18, and how civil society morphed into emergency organisations in Malmö, Sweden. Focus is specifically centred on shifts in law and policy, and rewritten guidelines that limit access to housing support. As responsibility for issues such as homelessness are displaced onto the individual by social services, the article argues that the situation of housing as humanitarian for unaccompanied youth is yet another symptom of the erosion of the social democratic welfare state in Sweden.}},
  author       = {{Solano, Priscilla}},
  issn         = {{1892-2783}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{01}},
  pages        = {{1--1}},
  publisher    = {{Universitetsforlaget AS}},
  series       = {{Nordic Journal of Social Research}},
  title        = {{The ‘Humanitarianisation’ of civil society : Legal tensions, unaccompanied youth and homelessness in Malmö}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.18261/njsr.15.1.6}},
  doi          = {{10.18261/njsr.15.1.6}},
  volume       = {{15}},
  year         = {{2024}},
}