Seeing like a welfare state

Thomas Ugelvik (2013) Seeing like a Welfare State: Immigration Control, Statecraft, and a Prison with Double Vision. In: Katja Franko Aas & Mary Bosworth (eds.),  The Borders of Punishment: Migration, Citizenship, and Social Exclusion.  Oxford University Press.

Introduction

A generous and universally available welfare system aimed at enhancing individual autonomy, maximizing labour force participation, promoting gender equality and creating a generally egalitarian social structure is often referred to as the Nordic model.  The welfare state is everywhere, and everywhere it is trusted and regarded as mostly benevolent (tax levels aside, of course).

Unlike in many other jurisdictions, even the prisons are regarded as part of the welfare state system in Norway. With ambitious goals set before them, like rehabilitation of the individual prisoner and the creation of a society with less crime, the correctional services' employees work hard to re-connect prisoner with the law-abiding parts of the Norwegian society outside the prison's walls. What happens to such a system and its ambitious goals when increasing numbers of foreigners arrive to take their share of its resources?

According to official statistics, the proportion of foreign nationals in the prison population has been increasing rapidly in recent years, from one in five in 2006, to one in three in 2011. The welfare oriented rehabilitation machine the Norwegian prison system is supposed to be, is facing the challenge of having to cope with increasing numbers of non-citizens.

Published June 16, 2016 9:38 AM - Last modified June 21, 2016 12:48 PM