Discussion and Conclusion
Despite this lengthy description linking neoliberal policy reforms with the riots, some people might argue that neoliberal reforms are not only restricted to Sweden, but are happening all across the world, especially in the other European countries. Despite the increase in inequality, Sweden still has the overall highest standard of living, and the level of inequality is still lower than in other industrialized countries, i.e. there is no economic reason for rioting. Since neoliberal policies are implemented across Europe, and riots are only taking place in Sweden, these neoliberal policies can not possibly have caused the riots. My counter-argument would be that riots are, of course, taking place in other countries, such as in France or Britain, which are also linked to angry immigrants and neoliberal policies. Secondly, and more importantly, the angry immigrants would be more likely to be angry in an economic environment that is hostile to them. It is certainly true that cultural arguments, such as ethnic discrimination in hiring and social relationships or even the unwillingness of the immigrants to undergo education and job training, contribute to the greater unemployment of immigrants. In fact, immigrants have been pushed into low-wage jobs (Schierup and Ålund 2011, 50). But if the condition of full employment held, as it did until the early 1990s (and especially in the post war decades between the 1950s to 1970s, when migrant workers were sought after to quell the labor shortages), the attendant labor shortages would have required Swedish firms to absorb the unemployed refugees in the labor market. On the other hand, in an environment where Swedish capitalists can shift their investments abroad and where unemployment is rising, the cards are stacked against the cultural outsiders, i.e. the immigrants and refugees, because the insiders, the native Swedes, will likely protect their own jobs before they involve immigrants. My objective, therefore, is not to prove that the high level of refugee intake has nothing to do with the riots. The discussion at the beginning quite clearly shows that having a large number of discontented refugees, who are socially excluded by segregation and unemployment, is a driver of riots, and that a more restrictive asylum policy would have prevented some of the tensions in the cities of Sweden. On the other hand, my discussion has also shown that long-run neoliberal policies have likely exacerbated the social problems, as a scarcity of jobs inevitably pit the lowest group of society, the refugees, against the rest of society. Mitigating the youth tensions will likely require not only policies that address their immediate problems, but a direct confrontation with the neoliberal policies that increase the economic insecurity of the most vulnerable parts of the population.