The purpose of this study is (a) to depict the general pattern of partnership of Immigrants and their children in Sweden and their position in the Swedish ""marriage market"" relative to that of natives; (b) to estimate probability of out-marriage of individuals from different immigrant groups with natives; and (c) to examine 'exchange theory' in relation to partnerships between immigrants and natives. Using a register data-set provided by Statistics Sweden, I find that individuals in this sample tend to choose men and women who are like themselves in socio-economic background, income, educational level, and position in the labour market. Regarding ""immigrant background,"" the results indicate a tendency towards ""ethnic endogamy."" Results also show that men and women with origins in countries outside northwest Europe and North America (ONW) have a lower probability of having a native partner than others. Empirical results also provide some support for ""exchange theory,"" that is, members of the ONW Immigrant group with native partners have compensated for their ""tribal stigma of race/ethnicity"" with their age and educational differences. They tend to be younger and better-educated than their native partners.

This study investigates the characteristics that affect access to social capital for employees in a single industrial firm in Sweden, and the impact of their social capital on their monthly salaries. The results demonstrate that being a member of a stigmatised immigrant group is associated with a substantial social capital deficit. This deficit arises because immigrant workers are embedded in social networks that constrain their ability to acquire valuable social resources or are excluded from social networks with valuable resources. Another finding is that the average salary earned by members of stigmatised immigrant groups is lower than that earned by native-born workers. The observed wage gap cannot be explained by ‘human capital’ variables. However, when social capital variables were taken into account, wage gaps noticeably shrank, which indicates that part of the wage disadvantage experienced by immigrants is likely to represent the impact of unequal access to social capital.

Transnational migration has been a constant element of human existence. Admission and

integration of migrants has, in time, become an increasingly important element of decision-making

policies in many nations. Classifications of voluntary and involuntary migrants according to their

reasons for migrating and the socio-economic and political reasons for the acceptance of such

individuals by the receiving countries have been the object of numerous national and international

pieces of legislation. This has served to underscore the importance of belonging for all parties

involved: both migrants (more or less welcome in their adoptive countries) and states alike. In a

formal sense, the ultimate signal of unlimited acceptance remains the granting of citizenship by

his/her new country to the “adoptee-resident.” Only citizens normally enjoy an unconditional right

to live and reside without restrictions in a given country. Traditionally, this ultimate form of

acceptance was (mutually) exclusive, which, for a long time, made it practically impossible for a

person to be a citizen of more than one state. Gradual globalization and an unprecedented

development of the very concept of citizenship, from a horizontal, national perspective to an

emerging vertical, supra-national level (consider, for example, the concept of EU-citizenship and

the special case of the Nordic states), required, at some point, a redefinition and re-evaluation of the

concept of citizenship, in both formal legal and more informal terms. This paper examines this

redefinition and re-evaluation within the context of Sweden.

Trans-national migration is now a global phenomenon, affecting an increasing amount of persons, many of whom have already completed a form of higher education in their country of origin or earlier residence at the time of migration. There is consequently a need to evaluate foreign degrees and assess migrants’ professional competence beyond their initial borders. Recognition of diplomas against the background of the integration process is the core of this article. Combining considerations regarding migration and integration of highly educated international migrants on the labour market of their target countries with a closer perspective on the process of validation of foreign higher education and professional competence in Sweden, the article treats this topic as a European example of the development of an issue of increasing importance in years to come.

The right to citizenship is an important right that every child should enjoy. In a general discussion on nationality, acquisition and loss of citizenship, the rights of the child against the background of extensive international migration, the article argues about the multiple aspects embedded in the citizenship concept and its practical content, presenting the legal status quo in the matter in the Swedish context.

The article takes up the issue of democratic participation of immigrants in general and in Sweden in particular, especially in the context of elections, in point of access, participation and as an issue of societal integration.

Building upon my doctoral thesis, Diasporic Narratives of Sexuality: Identity Formation among Iranian-Swedish Women", the research proposed here seeks to examine the under-researched area of masculinity and sexuality of Iranian men living in different diasporic spaces. For the purposes of this research I seek to investigate (a) the effect of Iranian Islamic cultures and socializations, (b) the experiences of migration and ethnic relations on the men’s practices of masculinity and sexuality, and (c) how these influences may complicate their (re) presentation and perceptions of their masculinities and sexual experiences. By studying the impact of Orientalist views on the men’s identity formations, this study aims to explore how Iranian born men (re)negotiate masculinity, sexuality and subjectivity as they confront the variety of orientalist stereotypes in different diasporc spaces. By analyzing how the dichotomization of ‘we and them’ arises in media, literature, and film among others, I aim to understand not only what prejudices the interviewee men face on a daily basis, but also how the stereotypes are used to differentiate Iranian (Middle Eastern) men from ‘liberated and equal seeking’ white Western men.

This paper is about diaspora. Through an analysis of the narratives of first-generation Iranian women living in Sweden and by placing gender and sexuality at the centre of my attention, I examine women’s experiences of migration and (un)settlement. In sum, I seek to demonstrate how migratory experiences impact sexuality and how and in what ways sexuality is constitutive to migratory process. Based on the narration of their diasporic experiences by these women, I aim to understand to what extent, and in what forms, migration and displacement (re)constitute the women’s notions of their sexuality(ies). The interviews are the textual field for exploring the divergent and contingent intersections of the discourses that constitute the women’s shifting notions of sexuality, in what ways they preserve values they believe important and the ambiva­lence the women convey about their sexuality and ethnicized/racialized and gendered roles in the diasporic context. By discussing some of the key subjects raised by the interviewees, such as intimacy in the diasporic space, contradictory gender discourses, the dominating impacts of existing Orientalist stereotypes, and their sense of (be)longing or not (be)longing, I will examine how the women experience their sexuality through the simultaneous and sometimes contradictory discourses of dislocation, attachment, and relations in the diasporic space.

Osama bin Laden har blivit symbolen för vad som uppfattas som ett muslimskt hot mot västerlandet. Politisk islam är måltavla för USA:s krig mot terrorism och har utmålats som vår tids största fara. Men det är få som vet vad politisk islam egentligen är och vad det står för.

I frånvaron av social välfärd och mänskliga rättigheter tänder tanken på en islamisk samhällsordning hoppet för miljoner muslimer om att en annan värld är möjlig. De diskuterar vad som menas med en islamisk samhällsordning. Vad det innebär att den islamiska lagen ska vara landets konstitution. Hur en islamisk samhällsekonomi ska fungera. Men det finns ingen enighet om svaren på sådana problem.

Vi får möta underjordiska väpnade celler, företrädare för islamistiska fackföreningar och den ickevåldsinriktade fredsrörelsen. Gardell diskuterar skillnaderna mellan politisk islam i opposition och som ideologi för makthavarna i den muslimska världen. Han behandlar de politiska systemen i Saudiarabien, Libyen och Iran, muslimska länder med helt olika samhällssystem och ideologi.

Bin Laden i våra hjärtan är en initierad berättelse om islamska politiska rörelser och hur de har växt fram. Den avslutas med ett kapitel om blågul islam, islamofobi, hedersmord och svenska myndigheters agerande i kriget mot terrorismen.   

Mattias Gardell är religionshistoriker vid Stockholms universitet. För närvarande är han bosatt i Kairo.