Politics for Exclusion and Strategies for Inclusion: A Scoping Review of Nordic Family Reunification Policies, Practices, and Impact on Refugees

Abstract

In recent decades, Nordic countries have seen a general move towards stricter migration policy, including in the area of refugee family reunification. While the body of literature on family reunification in these countries is growing, we lack a broad overview of research on policy and practice, as well as the impact of policy on refugee wellbeing. We conducted a scoping review of the academic literature on family reunification policy, practice and impact on refugees in the Nordic countries. The objective of this study was twofold: to collect and review academic literature on family reunification policy in the Nordic countries and on the experiences of and strategies used by refugees to navigate this process. We used a key concept in the theory of salutogenesis, a sense of coherence, to frame the analysis of refugee experiences. The findings of the review indicated that there is an uneven coverage of the Nordic countries in the literature, both in terms of geography and thematic focus. Much research reports on the negative impact on refugee wellbeing, but qualitative approaches allow for more nuanced insights into refugee experiences and responses. The use of a sense of coherence helped identify refugee use of resources and strategies in the literature.