Rooted in post-World War II narratives and inflated by decades of moral posturing, this identity has blinded Swedish policymakers to the catastrophic consequences of mass immigration. What started as a manageable refugee reception developed into an unrestricted migration policy that overburdened the country’s institutions and broke its social fabric. The foundations of Sweden’s refugee policy, laid by an independent political elite in the 1970s and 1980s, ignored the limitations of integration as well as warnings from previous refugee waves. While other European nations imposed restrictions, Sweden’s leaders – across parties – insisted on a vision of multicultural virtue. This consensus only emerged under the weight of the 2015 refugee crisis, which revealed the full extent of government failure. The 1,62,877 asylum applications lodged that year overwhelmed the housing, legal and welfare systems. The government refused to carry out border controls or prepare local governments, creating institutional chaos. By the beginning of 2017, there were more than 90,000 cases still pending at the Swedish Migration Agency, leaving tens of thousands in limbo while putting a strain on local services.
Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson was finally forced to acknowledge “parallel societies”, a complete failure of the Swedish integration model and an existential threat to Swedish democracy and social order. In April 2022, following violent riots that showed that these communities despise the Swedish authorities, Andersson admitted that “segregation may have gone so far that Sweden has parallel societies” where people “live in the same country, but in completely different realities”. This admission came decades late and underestimated the severity of the crisis. These parallel societies are characterized by active hostility towards Swedish institutions and values: linguistic isolation, where the acquisition of the Swedish language is deliberately avoided, cultural separation, which rejects secular Swedish norms in favor of imported religious and cultural practices, and economic parasitism, which creates a permanent dependence on Swedish welfare systems while contributing nothing to Swedish society. The linguistic dimension is particularly detrimental, as the refusal to learn Swedish is a deliberate refusal to integrate and creates permanent obstacles to meaningful participation in Swedish society.
Sweden’s migration crisis is a stark illustration of how quickly a stable and prosperous nation can be dismantled by a flawed immigration policy and political complacency. What was once hailed as a humanitarian superpower has evolved into a fragmented society plagued by ethnic enclaves, violent crime, welfare dependency, and collapsing institutions. All of this is a consequence of placing ideology above responsibility. Since the refugee crisis in 2015, opinion polls show that public skepticism has been steadily increasing, as many Swedes believe that the country’s generous refugee policy is being exploited by economic migrants and criminals with no intention of integrating. The political elite’s willingness to adapt has fueled disillusionment, while the meteoric rise of the Sweden Democrats reflects public disapproval of the status quo and a renewed affirmation of democratic accountability. The collapse of Sweden is not a failure of integration efforts, but a consequence of the import of a population that is fundamentally incompatible with Swedish society. No amount of spending, information, or reform can solve the problem of mass immigration from cultures that do not share – and often reject – Sweden’s values, laws, and norms.
Time is running out. Sweden now needs not minor corrections in direction, but a complete turnaround: a halt to mass immigration, large-scale deportations and the dismantling of the welfare magnet that continues to attract dependency and dysfunction. Anything less than this clearly ensures the further decline of the national level. Sweden’s experience gives the West one last warning: a nation that refuses to defend its identity, borders and cultural integrity will not survive. If Sweden wants to survive as a functioning state, it must act decisively now or accept the final national disintegration.
Translated and edited by Hans Seckler