Asylum Case Adjudication in Sweden, Country of Origin Information and Epistemic Violence

Abstract

AbstractThis chapter on country of origin information (COI) draws on the semi-structured interviews I have been conducting between the years 2014 and 2022 with the responsible decision-makers of the Swedish welfare state: migration court judges. By applying Spivak’s concept of ‘epistemic violence’ in my qualitative content analysis of ten of these interviews, I problematise the COI that judges apply when they adjudicate. The epistemic violence embedded in asylum determination procedures in general is influenced by the institutionalised power imbalance that characterises the Swedish asylum system. The analysis of the corresponding power relations—between people seeking asylum from refugee-sending countries and decision-makers of a wealthy welfare state—leads the critical observer to detect parallels with the colonial bureaucratic violence of earlier historical periods.