Multiculturalism, Immigration and their relationship with the Welfare State
             Issues concerning immigration within the Swedish Welfare state require a certain amount of individual pioneering on Sweden's part. The policies that work for other countries cannot be applied in the same manner. Since Sweden did not have to take on any large number of immigrants (especially non-Scandinavian immigrants) until the time surrounding World War II it is still fairly new to developing its immigration laws. Many of the problems associated with immigration are more due to refugees in Sweden. Sweden grants asylum to a broad variety of individuals, consequently there are often certain groups in which many problems arise. A good example is that of a fairly recent incident involving Ethiopian refugees that came to Sweden. Now that Ethiopia has been deemed safe for their return the country will not take the refugees back, and these 400 or so people are stuck without a home, except in Sweden. Recently, especially with the creation of the EU, Swedish immigration policy has become more efficient and well orchestrated. This seems to also be the case over much of Europe. In fact Germany even presented Sweden with an award recognizing their excellent achievements/improvements in immigration policy, and stated that they should lead the way in immigration policy making in Europe. Swedish immigration is not perfect yet though, and perhaps one of the best places to start looking is the relationship of immigration and the Welfare State.
             A popular view associated with the Swedish welfare state involves the idea of "folkhem" or "peoples home." This basically means that the people will do what is best for their own home. So how does immigration fit into this policy? Immigration often puts a burden on this system. The first thing to consider is that many of the immigrants do not hold the same view of society as native-born Swedes...