Research output
Complete citation
Poljarević, Emin, Anna Ardin, and Mattias Irving. “Islamophobia in Sweden: National Report 2021.” In European Islamophobia Report 2021, edited by Enes Bayraklı and Farid Hafez, 573–598. Vienna: Leopold Weiss Institute, 2022.
Status
Published (2022)
Publication type
National research report
Overview
This national report documents the changing forms of Islamophobia in Sweden during 2021 and their continuation into the public debates surrounding publication. It examines political rhetoric, media discourse, online radicalisation, hate crime, education, employment, law, and the treatment of Muslim civil-society organisations. The analysis shows how anti-Muslim narratives moved further into mainstream politics while Muslim associations were increasingly approached through securitisation, exceptional scrutiny, and demands to prove democratic legitimacy. The report combines documented incidents, institutional developments, public statements, and existing research to connect interpersonal hostility with structural and political processes. Its contribution is a country-level account of Islamophobia as more than individual prejudice: it identifies a mutually reinforcing relationship between public discourse, administrative practice, political mobilisation, and restrictions on Muslim participation in Swedish society.
Research question or central concern
How did political, institutional, media, and social developments shape Islamophobia and the conditions of Muslim participation in Sweden during 2021?
Main argument, approach, and contribution
The report uses systematic monitoring and contextual analysis across several social fields. It argues that Islamophobia is increasingly normalised through the interaction of mainstream political rhetoric, securitising administrative practices, online mobilisation, and persistent discrimination. Its contribution is an evidence-based national assessment linking individual incidents to structural conditions.
Keywords
Islamophobia; Sweden; anti-Muslim racism; securitisation; civil society; hate crime; political discourse; media
Emin Poljarević 