THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING GOOD: POWER AND MORALITY IN NORWEGIAN IMMIGRATION POLITICS

Abstract

The establishment and implementation of a relatively strict immigration regime in Norway has taken place within a vocabulary of equality, humanity, social justice and decency. One aspect is an insistence on a “restricted and controlled” immigration in order to protect a state of equality in Norway and avoid the emergence of a new “underclass.” Another is the stress on Norway’s humanitarian traditions and the rich country’s responsibility towards people in need, also globally. A whole rhetoric has evolved where immigration politics appears as a matter of decency, somehow apart from the more pragmatic tug-of-wars affecting other fields of politics. On the one hand, a “restricted and controlled” immigration is necessary in order to protect certain moral qualities of Norwegian society. But on the other, immigration politics has also appeared as an indicator of the moral qualities of the Norwegian nation-state thus requiring “decent policies” in order not to threaten the image of a nation embodying such moral qualities.

Citation

Hagelund, A. (2003), "THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING GOOD: POWER AND MORALITY IN NORWEGIAN IMMIGRATION POLITICS", Brochmann, G. (Ed.) Multicultural Challenge (Comparative Social Research, Vol. 22), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 177-203. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0195-6310(03)22007-X