Claims-making on immigration in Sweden and Switzerland: The role of crisis shocks.

This paper compares the politicization of immigration in Sweden and Switzerland and examines how this phenomenon has been affected by migration-related crises. Departing from the assumption that such crises impact the discursive behavior of relevant actors, we employ the theoretical concept of claims-making to analyze statements that appeared in major Swedish (Dagens Nyheter) and Swiss (Le Temps and NZZ) newspapers during two critical time periods: the 1990s, when a great number of refugees from the war-torn successor states of the former Yugoslavia arrived in Western Europe; and the 2010s, when the upheavals of the so-called Arab Spring forced millions to leave their countries of origin. Despite different positions on multiculturalism, different welfare regimes, and different civic traditions, both Sweden and Switzerland were among the countries most visibly affected by the influx of refugees and the right-wing turn in society that accompanied it. Against this backdrop, we examine if claims made during these periods differ in terms of (a) the politicization of the issue as such, (b) the composition of claimants and media formats employed, and (c) the frames these claimants invoked to justify their arguments. Combining insights from the literature on politicization with a historical-comparative approach and original empirical data, we contribute to the debate about representations of immigration in Europe as well as their discursive implications.