The Silent Political Issue – Environmental Migration : A Thematic Analysis of Political Party Positions in Sweden

Sammanfattning

Environmental migration has received increased attention from international organisations and academic research in the recent decades. At the same time, the issue remains marginal in national political debate and has not been extensively studied within national policy arenas. The thesis addresses this gap by examining how Swedish political parties across the entire political spectrum frame and prioritise environmental migration. Sweden is used as an empirical case due to its ambitious climate policies, strong humanitarian migration tradition, and ideologically diverse party system. The study draws on framing and agenda-setting theory and makes three theoretical contributions, most notably Agenda Creation, which integrates these theories into a single political process. The thesis further argues that the theories can operate without influencing the public. Finally, the Agenda-Institution Positioning Model is introduced, which specifies where issues are situated across political institutions. Empirically, the thesis is based on interviews with central parliamentarians from all Swedish parliamentary parties and is analysed using thematic analysis. The findings show that environmental migration is understood in broadly similar terms across political parties and is mainly understood as a future issue. Responsibility for addressing the issue is primarily placed at the international level rather than the national arena, preferably within the UN followed by the EU. The results also show that environmental migration receives limited discussion within political parties. Although political parties largely view environmental migration as ideologically compatible, it is simultaneously regarded as politically sensitive. Nevertheless, political parties generally express support for broader legal solutions rather than national ones.