Block 1. Multi-level governance: Institutional and financial settings

In Sweden, migration and integration policies are designed at the national level however, there is no “integration code” or guidelines that all levels of government have to follow in their integration process. Since the dismantling in 2007of the former Integration Agency – created in 1998 – each ministry and government agency is responsible for integration in its particular area and integration has to be applied to all areas of policy (Bakbasel, 2012). The Ministry of Justice (responsible for migration, asylum, residence permits) and the Ministry of Employment (responsible for employment, establishment, integration through work) are the two state departments responsible for most of the migration and integration policies. The Equality Ombudsman (DO) is in charge of overseeing discrimination laws. Sweden has intensified efforts to combat discrimination of foreign-born individuals since the 1990s. A comprehensive law against all kinds of discrimination was introduced in 2009. It is impossible, according to some studies, to determine whether these measures have begun to reduce discrimination (DELMI, 2017).