The debate continues

The Integration blogg links to this debate  (at 4.30) between Integration Minister Sabuni and the representative of the opposition. "Why does the integration policy fail?", the reporter asks before going on to talk about the riotiing in Swedish suburbs that have been given a lot of attention for the past year or so. I ask myself if that question can ever be adequately answered without looking at mechanisms of empowerment and disempowerment. In that context, a key issue is to look at the civil society of immigrant communities. If I were to guess why this is never really given any attention over there, I'd link this to the Swedish political reflex of solving everything through the powerful welfare state, or the "strong society" as it is known over there. The problem with that, though, is that one size does not fit all, and one type of organizations cannot solve all types of social problem.