Demanding Integration: A discourse analytical study on political discourses about language requirements, citizenship attainment, and integration in Sweden

Abstract: For a long time, Sweden remained reluctant to condition citizenship attainment. In recent years, an upsurge of political representatives have embraced a requirement-based approach to naturalization as a means to promote integration. By drawing upon theories from Critical Language Testing, Standard Language Ideology, Critical Discourse Analysis, together with the methodological framework of Norman Fairclough, the thesis investigates how this discursive shift take manifest form under the current political predicament. The findings confirm that discourses related to requirements, stringency, and security regarding integration and immigration, combined with the hegemonic status of the Swedish language, enable different political agendas to discursively portray language requirements as a desirable course of action to promote integration.