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I have been an evaluator for a decade and have been involved in evaluation of programmes and projects with both formative and summative designs. The majority (but far from all) of the evaluations have been funded by the European Union and the stakeholders include municipal, regional and state organisations. My reflections on this article revolve around the usefulness and accessibility of the models discussed. This is because, in my experience, evaluations tend to lose their purpose if they do not meet the needs of practitioners (for example, officials or representatives for NGOs) and policymakers, but also because evaluators often find themselves struggling to put academic evaluation models into practice.

During the 1990's the diversity idea entered the Swedish socio-political debate under the name 'mångfald'. The concept originated in the United States and discusses how organizations can be more efficient if they combat discrimination and acknowledge differences. This development attracted the attention of mass-media and led to the publication of books, articles and reports that advocated or commented the concept. It had also had effects on policymaking and various types of consultancy work. The present thesis focuses on studying the dissemination of the diversity concept. This is a way of describing how change takes place through the introduction of new ideas and practices and how various forces and obstacles influence this process. In this dissertation it is the ethnic dimension of the diversity concept that is under the spotlight because this is the aspect which has been given most attention in Sweden. Another limiting factor is that the main object of interest it is diversity as a question involving working life and organisation. This thesis consists of three parts. The first part focuses on how the concept was developed in the USA and discusses the prerequisites in Europe for the dissemination of the diversity idea. The conclusion is that although some economic and structural developmental trends are basically the same in Europe and the United States, there are some obstacles due to contextual differences. In the second part the introduction and the dissemination of the diversity concept in Sweden in the 1990's is studied. The main conclusions of this study are that the idea is 're-invented' in a number of different ways as it is diffused in the Swedish context. The idea, that can be labelled as an essentially contested concept, is modified by different actors in several ways. The contextual differences between the USA and Sweden are another reason that the idea becomes modified and watered down during the dissemination process. The third part investigates how the diversity concept is disseminated and implemented in the municipal organization the City of Malmö. Several obstacles to the dissemination process are revealed, for example the complex nature of the organization and the different views on the benefits of a diversity management strategy. These studies of the dissemination of the diversity idea in Sweden points to the fact that the impact of the idea is rather shallow despite the attention that it has attracted in different arenas.

Forced return in Sweden is characterized by heavy politicization, systemic fragmentation and is shrouded in a veil of securitization. Forced return is both an organized activity, with different state and non-state authorities involved, and an activity that seeks to end a relationship of responsibility between the state and the non-citizen. The forced return migration process is generally not conceptualised as a comprehensive process by policy-makers or practitioners but rather as a loosely linked series of activities that eventually lead to the return of the migrant. This is possibly due to the disparate institutional actors involved. For migrants however, the actual "end threat" of removal to their country of origin is very real and hangs like a dark shadow on their existence for as long as they hold temporary permits of residence. This dark shadow of deportation takes on new and tangible proportions through the institutional forms and practices that migrants, who have either failed their application for asylum or who have no other lawful permit to remain in the country, encounter. Our project attempts to start filling a knowledge gap by exploring migrants' own experiences of this particular forced return process conceptualised as a social, cultural and political phenomenon. Access and contact with migrants is therefore of utmost importance to our project. The original plan at the start of this 18-month project was to first obtain access to one or more of Sweden's five immigration detention centres where we would spend time, through regular visits, with migrants at risk of deportation. This would have enabled regular contact with migrants since we were aware that meeting migrants at risk of deportation out in the community would be very difficult. Indeed, as our own study came to confirm, in Sweden migrants at risk of deportation out in the community are difficult to identify since they (understandably) do not share widely their legal status, partly to avoid stigma, but mostly because it increases their precariousness in various settings. We now know that migrants, particularly those who do not opt for voluntary return, take time to or even refuse to consider the real eventuality of return, and therefore would also not identify themselves as potential deportees. ; N/A

By analysing migrant experiences of living in Sweden under the threat of deportation, this book contributes to our understanding of the effects of deportation, or forced return, on people. Migrants at risk of deportation are a varied and disparate group, with singularly different stories. Within their different stories, often painful to listen to, there arise common and strong narratives. These narratives, the outcome of qualitative research with migrants, are the focus of this volume. An overview of key policies, legislations and institutions at the Swedish and EU levels is provided to contextualise the data and conclusions. What can we learn from these migrant experiences of the Swedish forced returns system, a system which has been both highly commended in some areas while critiqued in others? Deportation is increasingly being discussed from a social and global justice point of view, as well as from a human rights point of view. It is therefore of critical importance that migrant voices are heard and their experiences analysed. The 2009 European Return Directive, transposed into Swedish law in 2012, states that deportation and pre-removal detention should be conducted with respect to fundamental human rights, or in other words, in a 'humane and dignified' manner. But what is a 'humane and dignified' deportation? Is it an oxymoron in itself? This book does not claim to answer this question, but merely contributes to the debate through an analysis of migrant narratives. The afterword by UNHCR Nansen Award winner Dr. Katrine Camilleri reflects on the results of the study by juxtaposing it with her own work in Malta and primes a wider discussion of the topic by putting the Swedish case in the broader context of European Union trends.

By analysing migrant experiences of living in Sweden under the threat of deportation, this book contributes to our understanding of the effects of deportation, or forced return, on people. Migrants at risk of deportation are a varied and disparate group, with singularly different stories. Within their different stories, often painful to listen to, there arise common and strong narratives. These narratives, the outcome of qualitative research with migrants, are the focus of this volume. An overview of key policies, legislations and institutions at the Swedish and EU levels is provided to contextualise the data and conclusions. What can we learn from these migrant experiences of the Swedish forced returns system, a system which has been both highly commended in some areas while critiqued in others? Deportation is increasingly being discussed from a social and global justice point of view, as well as from a human rights point of view. It is therefore of critical importance that migrant voices are heard and their experiences analysed. The 2009 European Return Directive, transposed into Swedish law in 2012, states that deportation and pre-removal detention should be conducted with respect to fundamental human rights, or in other words, in a 'humane and dignified' manner. But what is a 'humane and dignified' deportation? Is it an oxymoron in itself? This book does not claim to answer this question, but merely contributes to the debate through an analysis of migrant narratives. The afterword by UNHCR Nansen Award winner Dr. Katrine Camilleri reflects on the results of the study by juxtaposing it with her own work in Malta and primes a wider discussion of the topic by putting the Swedish case in the broader context of European Union trends. ; peer-reviewed