Children in coercive care as ‘Responsibilized Becomings’: On rights and responsibilization in the Swedish welfare state

Abstract

This study explores the often-ignored relationship between responsibilization and the welfare state, by investigating the translation of UN Convention on the Rights of the Child into Swedish legislation. Through an analysis of official political documents and interviews with Members of Parliament, this article identifies the driving forces behind the responsibilization of children in coercive care and seeks to explain how these forces are used to conceptualize and reconceptualize the rights of children in these settings. By proposing that the responsibilization of these children is closely connected to the internal logic of the welfare state, and that this logic is working in tandem with neoliberalization (rather than against it), this article provides an important contribution to the debate regarding the welfare state and responsibilization in Sweden, and by extension in the Nordic context.