Transit - Gate Keeping Unaccompanied Refugee Children : Examining frontline bureaucrats’ discretion and their perception of transit activities in the Swedish welfare system

Abstract: This thesis investigates through semi-structured interviews the perceived discretionary practice of frontline bureaucrats who work with unaccompanied refugee children in Sweden. The frontline bureaucrat theory outlined by Lipsky (1980) has additionally been used in understanding the effects of transit on the clients of these so-called gatekeepers, which in this study consist of teachers, social welfare secretaries and executive officials of the Migration board. Theories concerning critical citizenship have further been incorporated in the analysis. The main conclusions are that the discretion and the perceptions on the clients of the respondents varies depending on the role they have in the reception system. Furthermore restrictive regulatory framework of some of the respondents makes visible that the line between following or disregarding the rules is not that clear. Additionally this study discusses the temporary characteristics of transit where the interviews have shown that the children are excluded from some parts of society, mainly through unequal access to education. This is explained by the non-citizenship of the children which according to Lister (2003) can be traced back to the dominant discourse of the “Other”.