Dimitris Skleparis | Newcastle University (original) (raw)
Peer-Reviewed Papers by Dimitris Skleparis
Environment and Planning C: Politics and Space, 2023
Access to social rights is crucial to refugee settlement and integration, and a whole range of so... more Access to social rights is crucial to refugee settlement and integration, and a whole range of social policy measures determine the limits on those rights. In the United Kingdom (UK) various relevant social policies are divided into devolved and reserved categories. This has resulted in a distinct territorial variance in social rights and welfare provisions within the country. The aim of this article is to explore how young Syrian refugees experience this territorial divergence in two jurisdictions: in Scotland, where they are part social citizens; and in England, where access to social rights is more limited. We use the prism of social citizenship as a means of examining the experiences of settlement and integration of Syrian refugees in the two nations. We draw out contrasts between these experiences and locate them within the interactions between the politics of welfare and refugee politics in the two nations. We argue that fine variances in England's and Scotland's social rights and welfare regimes have an impact on the settlement experiences of refugees. England's less supportive regime fosters self-reliance and faster labour market integration among refugees. However, this environment pushes refugees in England to accept any job that they might find, no matter how precarious, or how far it may be from their educational qualifications, past professional experience or aspirations. This has overarching implications for refugees' outlook on life and long-term planning.
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Media and Communication
This editorial serves as an introduction to Media and Communication’s thematic issue “Media and M... more This editorial serves as an introduction to Media and Communication’s thematic issue “Media and Migration in the Covid-19 Pandemic: Discourses, Policies, and Practices in Times of Crisis.” This thematic issue presents a space for discussion on ways in which digital infrastructures and media have an impact on understandings and experiences of migration during the pandemic. The seven articles in this volume offer an integrated account of this issue from many empirical studies adopting a multi-actor perspective while also involving different methodologies and cross-cultural and interdisciplinary frameworks. The contributions featured in this thematic issue shed new light on the role of mediated processes and discourses around migration and may be of assistance to understanding the opportunities and challenges of leveraging media technologies to promote inclusive, sustainable, and meaningful participation and representation of migrants beyond the pandemic.
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The British Journal of Politics and International Relations, 2021
New migrant movements increasingly rely on unconventional forms of protest, which they strategica... more New migrant movements increasingly rely on unconventional forms of protest, which they strategically frame in rational terms, rather than as 'acts of desperation' that dominate public representations. This article demonstrates this empirically through a prototypical case of new migrant activism, employing discourse analysis to explore the collective framing of a hunger strike involving irregular migrants in Greece, which was, however, contested by other protest users. Drawing on rare and pertinent data collected through face-to-face interviews with hunger strikers, we find that the strategic or rationalist framing of the hunger strike, promoted by its leaders, was largely shared with individual protesters at the basis of the mobilisation, contrary to the publicly proliferated affective frames. Using quantitative methods, we show, for the first time, that the degree of frame alignment is not only important for the legitimacy of a movement but is also a significant predictor of future remobilisation in radical types of protest activity.
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European Political Science Review, 2021
Support for social distancing measures was, globally, high at the early stages of the COVID-19 pa... more Support for social distancing measures was, globally, high at the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic but increasingly came under pressure. Focusing on the UK, this article provides a rigorous exploration of the drivers of public support for social distancing at their formative stage, via mixed methods. Synthesizing insights from crisis management and securitization theory, thematic analysis is employed to map the main frames promoted by the government and other actors on the nature/severity, blame/responsibility, and appropriate response to the pandemic, which 'follows the science'. The impact of these on public attitudes is examined via a series of regression analyses, drawing on a representative survey of the UK population (n = 2100). Findings challenge the prevailing understanding that support for measures is driven by personal health considerations, socioeconomic circumstances, and political influences. Instead, crisis framing dynamics, which the government is well-positioned to dominate, have the greatest impact on driving public attitudes.
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Fengler, S, Bastian, M, Brinkmann, J, Zappe, A C, Tatah, V, Andindilile, M, Assefa, E, Chibita, M, Mbaine, A, Obonyo, L, Quashigah, T, Skleparis, D, Splendore, S, Tadesse M, and Lengauer, M (2020) Covering Migration—in Africa and Europe: Results from a Comparative Analysis of 11 Countries, 2020
While the issue of migration has heavily impacted on public debates in the Global North, much les... more While the issue of migration has heavily impacted on public debates in the Global North, much less is known about coverage of migration in the Global South. This pilot study sets out to de-westernize the discussion, by analyzing and comparing news coverage in migrants' destination countries and countries of origin. The study's focus is on media coverage of migration from Africa towards Europe. The paper builds upon prior studies on the coverage of migrants and refugees. A consortium of African and European researchers has conducted a comparative content analysis of migration coverage in 22 opinion-leading newspapers in six European and five sub-Sahara African countries. The study has retrieved 1,512 articles which have appeared in 2015/16. The topic was much less salient in African countries, with only 175 articles found in the African news outlets under study. Coverage in the European destination countries was dominated by domestic issues like border security and migration policy, but also paid attention to the actual migrants-who received much less coverage in the sending countries. Coverage of migration in African media was more negative and focused on disasters at sea. Both African and European media ignored the causes of migration.
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Skleparis, D., & Augestad Knudsen, R. (2020). Localising ‘radicalisation’: Risk assessment practices in Greece and the United Kingdom. The British Journal of Politics and International Relations. https://doi.org/10.1177/1369148120910987
This article juxtaposes anti-radicalisation policy in the United Kingdom, one of the pioneers in ... more This article juxtaposes anti-radicalisation policy in the United Kingdom, one of the pioneers in the field, with Greece, one of the latecomers. Drawing on localisation theory, our aim is to understand how 'common knowledge' of radicalisation and counter-radicalisation has materialised in the United Kingdom and Greece by exploring the development and use of radicalisation-related risk and vulnerability assessment tools. We argue that the radicalisation 'knowledge' was localised more seamlessly in the United Kingdom, which can be attributed to the country's 'norm producer' status on the field of European counter-radicalisation. By contrast, the 'knowledge' was subjected to significant 're-framing' and 'stretching' to fit with the Greek context. This is associated with the country's 'norm adopter' status on the field of European counter-radicalisation, as well as with a 'spill-over effect' from a national context of deeply polarising and contentious counter-terrorism policies. We maintain that these localisation processes reveal two distinct assemblages of governing radicalisation.
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Karyotis, G., Mulvey, G. and Skleparis, D. (2020) Young Syrian refugees in the UK: a two-tier system of international protection?, Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies., 2020
This article explores the experiences of young Syrian refugees in the UK. It looks at how settlem... more This article explores the experiences of young Syrian refugees in the UK. It looks at how settlement plays out for two 'types' of Syrian refugees, those resettled by the UK Government and those who claim asylum in the UK. Drawing on new empirical data from 484 Syrian refugees in the UK, the article compares and contrasts the two groups' access to educational provisions, the labour market and general support mechanisms that should, in principle, be equally available to all refugees. This reveals the scale and consequences of the existing two-tier system of international protection based entirely on how refugees come to be in the UK, rather than any objective analysis of their reason for flight. In doing so, the article seeks to contribute to debates about the process and implications of how host states label people, in this case by de facto treating resettled Syrians as the 'good' refugees, while those who arrive of their own volition, regardless of their needs, are viewed as more problematic.
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Skleparis, D. (2017) European Governments’ Responses to the ‘Refugee Crisis’: The Interdependence of EU Internal and External Controls. Southeastern Europe, 41(3), 276-301.
In the face of the 'refugee crisis' , many European governments, even in traditionally liberal st... more In the face of the 'refugee crisis' , many European governments, even in traditionally liberal states, unilaterally introduced a number of restrictive and, often, controversial migration, asylum, and border control policies. The author argues that past legal-bureaucratic choices on migration and asylum policies, ongoing developments in international relations at that time, the structural and perceived capacity of receiving states to cope with the refugee influx, and long-standing migration-related security concerns influenced the responses of many European governments amid the mass population movement. However, the author also suggests that the surfacing of particular policies across Europe was related to the newly elected Greek government's attempted U-turn from similar repressive and controversial policies during that time. In this regard, the author maintains that repressive and controversial migration, asylum, and border control policies cannot simply be abolished within the context of the eu common market and interdependence of eu internal and external controls.
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Skleparis, D. (2017) ‘A Europe without Walls, without Fences, without Borders’: A Desecuritisation of Migration Doomed to Fail. Political Studies. DOI: 10.1177/0032321717729631 (Early Online Publication)
It has been commonly argued that amid the so-called 'migration crisis' in 2015, Greece ignored it... more It has been commonly argued that amid the so-called 'migration crisis' in 2015, Greece ignored its Dublin Regulation obligations due to unprecedentedly high migration flows, structural weaknesses, fears and uncertainty. However, this narrative deprives the Greek government of agency. In contrast, this article puts forward an alternative analysis of Greece's attitude. It argues that the Greek government's policy choices in the realms of border controls, migration and asylum in 2015, prior to the 'EU–Turkey deal', manifested a well-calculated desecuritisation strategy with a twofold aim. In this respect, this article provides an analysis of why and how the newly elected SYRIZA-led coalition government embarked on a desecuritising move and assesses the success/effectiveness of this move and the desecuritisation strategy. It argues that although the government's desecuritising move was successful, overall, its desecuritisation strategy failed to produce the anticipated results vis-à-vis the government's twofold aim and intended outcomes.
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Heaven Crawley & Dimitris Skleparis (2017): Refugees, migrants, neither, both: categorical fetishism and the politics of bounding in Europe’s ‘migration crisis’, Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, DOI: 10.1080/1369183X.2017.1348224 (Early Online Publication)
The use of the categories ‘refugee’ and ‘migrant’ to differentiate between those on the move and ... more The use of the categories ‘refugee’ and ‘migrant’ to differentiate between those on the move and the legitimacy, or otherwise, of their claims to international protection has featured strongly during Europe’s ‘migration crisis’ and has been used to justify policies of exclusion and containment. Drawing on interviews with 215 people who crossed the Mediterranean to Greece in 2015, our paper challenges this ‘categorical fetishism’, arguing that the dominant categories fail to capture adequately the complex relationship between political, social and economic drivers of migration or their shifting significance for individuals over time and space. As such it builds upon a substantial body of academic literature demonstrating a disjuncture between conceptual and policy categories and the lived experiences of those on the move. However, the paper is also critical of efforts to foreground or privilege ‘refugees’ over ‘migrants’ arguing that this reinforces rather than challenges the dichotomy’s faulty foundations. Rather those concerned about the use of categories to marginalise and exclude should explicitly engage with the politics of bounding, that is to say, the process by which categories are constructed, the purpose they serve and their consequences, in order to denaturalise their use as a mechanism to distinguish, divide and discriminate.
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Skleparis, D. (2017) The Politics of Migrant Resistance amid the Greek Economic Crisis, International Political Sociology, 11(2), 113–129
This paper focuses on a particular instance of migrant resistance: the hunger strike of three hun... more This paper focuses on a particular instance of migrant resistance: the
hunger strike of three hundred irregular migrants in 2011 in Greece. It
does not conceptualize the politics of migrant resistance as an isolated
incidence of mobilization of irregular migrants against the government
in support for their rights in existing institutions. By drawing on a set of
fifty-two face-to-face semi-structured interviews with migrant protesters
and organizers of the hunger strike, this paper rather argues that the
politics of migrant resistance is performed in the daily lives and day-today
activities of irregular migrants. It is performed by irregular migrants
and those who stand in solidarity with them through the mundane
production of information, tricks for survival, mutual care, social relations, services exchange, solidarity, and sociability, which challenge security policies and controls and establish an alternative form of life. The differential inclusion of irregular migrants in various social fields, and
the leeway that this inclusion potentially creates in their daily lives and
social relationships, enables irregular migrants to create ties with other
agents/actors in dominated positions in their social fields, who possess
and control the essential capital for the creation of these alternative
modes of life.
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Lazaridis, G. & Skleparis, D. (2016) Securitization of Migration and the Far Right: the case of Greek Security Professionals. International Migration, 54(2), 176–192.
Since the events of 9/11, security concerns have gained unprecedented dominance on western govern... more Since the events of 9/11, security concerns have gained unprecedented dominance on western
governments’ national and international political agendas; Greece has been no exception. The
success or failure of a far right party, like Golden Dawn, depends on the effectiveness of the
government to regulate immigration and to develop policies aimed at combating the racism
which pervades the political culture of society at this particular juncture, when the country is
experiencing severe crisis. The aim is to provide an account of the rationale of the securitization
of migration from the perspective of Greek security professionals. We argue that the
extreme securitizing perceptions of security professionals have been exploited and assisted by
far-right extremist groups, which instilled racial violence, hate speech/crime into society,
resulting in patterned, unreflective, and routinized security practices and discourses which are
more in line with the beliefs and values advocated by the extreme right.
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Skleparis, D. (2016) (In)securitization and illiberal practices on the fringe of the EU. European Security, 25(1), 92-111.
Illiberal practices of liberal regimes have been extensively studied by critical security studies... more Illiberal practices of liberal regimes have been extensively studied by critical security studies. The literature on risk emphasises the idea of imminent dangers and the logic of worst-case scenarios, which eventually unsettle the balance between security and liberty by always favouring the former in its most coercive and exceptional forms. This paper, by drawing on (in)securitization theory, attempts to explain how particular illiberal practices with respect to the control and management of immigration on the fringe of the EU become normalised. It argues that (in)securitization of immigration and illiberal practices are effects of the very functioning of a transnational field of (in)security professionals that are produced through the structural competition between different actors of this field over the definition of security and the appropriate control and management of immigration. In this respect, it uses Greece as a case study and draws on material gathered through interviews with Greek security professionals in Athens, Lesvos, Orestiada, and Alexandroupoli, and analysis of their discourse in dissertations they prepared during their study in police academies.
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Griffith Law Review, Volume (22) Issue (3) (2013), Mar 2014
It has become commonplace to argue that migration in most host states is socially constructed pri... more It has become commonplace to argue that migration in most host states is socially constructed primarily as a security threat, a process known as ‘securitisation’. Political elites and security professionals are identified as the main agents that promote this particular framing of the issue. While securitisation is often implicitly considered as a goal-orientated process, paradoxically few studies have explored its actual consequences on policy and the securitising actors themselves. Adopting a consequentialist ethics approach, this article assesses the implications of the securitisation of migration in Greece, drawing on face-to-face interviews with security professionals, discourse analysis and other primary data. It demonstrates that securitisation harms the interests of not only migrants but also, counter-intuitively, of the state and the elites that supported it in the first place. This leaves only parties of the far-right as the main winners of the security frame that characterises Greece’s stance on immigration since the early 1990s and which continues to pose obstacles to its development of a coherent immigration policy with a long-term view.
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Interviews & Op-Eds by Dimitris Skleparis
Eteron, 2024
Σε πολλά κράτη-μέλη της Ευρωπαϊκής Ένωσης (ΕΕ), οι αντι-μεταναστευτικές και αντιευρωπαϊκές στάσει... more Σε πολλά κράτη-μέλη της Ευρωπαϊκής Ένωσης (ΕΕ), οι αντι-μεταναστευτικές και αντιευρωπαϊκές στάσεις της κοινής γνώμης «πάνε πακέτο». Στην Ελλάδα, όμως, όχι. Γιατί συμβαίνει αυτό;
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E-IR, 2022
The impending global food crisis has sparked fears in many EU policymakers’ minds of a fresh ‘mig... more The impending global food crisis has sparked fears in many EU policymakers’ minds of a fresh ‘migration crisis’. Concerns that severe food shortages could lead millions from Africa and the Middle East to head to Europe, in a similar fashion to 2015–2016 are prevalent. Yet, the instinctive response of ‘hungry people’ is first to look for food within, not beyond, their country’s borders. Other policymakers’ fears are slightly more nuanced. They emphasise that the soaring food and energy prices could lead to instability, which, in turn, could prompt new mass migration to the EU. Indeed, research evidence suggests that there is a strong correlation between spikes in food and energy costs, socio-political upheavals, and ensuing international migrations. However, underneath the former neo-Malthusian approach, and the latter’s relatively more sober understanding lies a bitter truth: food insecurity makes headlines only when ‘the hungry’ cease to be the ‘usual suspects’.
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Perspectif, 2022
Gıda güvensizliği tek başına göçün tetikleyicisi olmasa da, denkleme sosyo-politik çalkantılar da... more Gıda güvensizliği tek başına göçün tetikleyicisi olmasa da, denkleme sosyo-politik çalkantılar da eklendiğinde durum değişiyor. Peki gıda krizi ve göçilişkisinde hangi faktör ne ölçüde belirleyici oluyor?
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Perspectif - Issue 311, 2022
Millions of Ukrainians fleeing the Russian invasion are met with open arms in Europe. This has no... more Millions of Ukrainians fleeing the Russian invasion are met with open arms in Europe. This has not always been the case for people forced to leave their homes. This rare showing of solidarity sparked a debate on the EU’s responses to refugees, with critical voices raising the issue of racist double standards. Indeed, not so long ago, most European states were quite apprehensive, and many were outright hostile towards Syrians during ‘Europe’s migration crisis’. However, these arguments, important as they may be, miss a crucial point: states instrumentalise population movements for political purposes. The struggle for power between the USA and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) was a key parameter in refugee politics in the post-WW2 era. And as the world rollbacks to another Cold War, geopolitical considerations and power politics are taking again the front seat in state responses to forced displacement. In Cold War refugee politics, race becomes a ‘moldable’ concept.
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The UK public voluntarily agreed to give up fundamental rights and liberties in the fight against... more The UK public voluntarily agreed to give up fundamental rights and liberties in the fight against COVID-19 on the assumption that this suspension applied to everyone – in other words, that governance remained democratic, writes Dimitris Skleparis. This is why Dominic Cummings’s lockdown breach has stirred a heated debate and this is why the government’s handling of the situation has already reduced public trust in democracy.
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Environment and Planning C: Politics and Space, 2023
Access to social rights is crucial to refugee settlement and integration, and a whole range of so... more Access to social rights is crucial to refugee settlement and integration, and a whole range of social policy measures determine the limits on those rights. In the United Kingdom (UK) various relevant social policies are divided into devolved and reserved categories. This has resulted in a distinct territorial variance in social rights and welfare provisions within the country. The aim of this article is to explore how young Syrian refugees experience this territorial divergence in two jurisdictions: in Scotland, where they are part social citizens; and in England, where access to social rights is more limited. We use the prism of social citizenship as a means of examining the experiences of settlement and integration of Syrian refugees in the two nations. We draw out contrasts between these experiences and locate them within the interactions between the politics of welfare and refugee politics in the two nations. We argue that fine variances in England's and Scotland's social rights and welfare regimes have an impact on the settlement experiences of refugees. England's less supportive regime fosters self-reliance and faster labour market integration among refugees. However, this environment pushes refugees in England to accept any job that they might find, no matter how precarious, or how far it may be from their educational qualifications, past professional experience or aspirations. This has overarching implications for refugees' outlook on life and long-term planning.
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Media and Communication
This editorial serves as an introduction to Media and Communication’s thematic issue “Media and M... more This editorial serves as an introduction to Media and Communication’s thematic issue “Media and Migration in the Covid-19 Pandemic: Discourses, Policies, and Practices in Times of Crisis.” This thematic issue presents a space for discussion on ways in which digital infrastructures and media have an impact on understandings and experiences of migration during the pandemic. The seven articles in this volume offer an integrated account of this issue from many empirical studies adopting a multi-actor perspective while also involving different methodologies and cross-cultural and interdisciplinary frameworks. The contributions featured in this thematic issue shed new light on the role of mediated processes and discourses around migration and may be of assistance to understanding the opportunities and challenges of leveraging media technologies to promote inclusive, sustainable, and meaningful participation and representation of migrants beyond the pandemic.
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The British Journal of Politics and International Relations, 2021
New migrant movements increasingly rely on unconventional forms of protest, which they strategica... more New migrant movements increasingly rely on unconventional forms of protest, which they strategically frame in rational terms, rather than as 'acts of desperation' that dominate public representations. This article demonstrates this empirically through a prototypical case of new migrant activism, employing discourse analysis to explore the collective framing of a hunger strike involving irregular migrants in Greece, which was, however, contested by other protest users. Drawing on rare and pertinent data collected through face-to-face interviews with hunger strikers, we find that the strategic or rationalist framing of the hunger strike, promoted by its leaders, was largely shared with individual protesters at the basis of the mobilisation, contrary to the publicly proliferated affective frames. Using quantitative methods, we show, for the first time, that the degree of frame alignment is not only important for the legitimacy of a movement but is also a significant predictor of future remobilisation in radical types of protest activity.
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European Political Science Review, 2021
Support for social distancing measures was, globally, high at the early stages of the COVID-19 pa... more Support for social distancing measures was, globally, high at the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic but increasingly came under pressure. Focusing on the UK, this article provides a rigorous exploration of the drivers of public support for social distancing at their formative stage, via mixed methods. Synthesizing insights from crisis management and securitization theory, thematic analysis is employed to map the main frames promoted by the government and other actors on the nature/severity, blame/responsibility, and appropriate response to the pandemic, which 'follows the science'. The impact of these on public attitudes is examined via a series of regression analyses, drawing on a representative survey of the UK population (n = 2100). Findings challenge the prevailing understanding that support for measures is driven by personal health considerations, socioeconomic circumstances, and political influences. Instead, crisis framing dynamics, which the government is well-positioned to dominate, have the greatest impact on driving public attitudes.
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Fengler, S, Bastian, M, Brinkmann, J, Zappe, A C, Tatah, V, Andindilile, M, Assefa, E, Chibita, M, Mbaine, A, Obonyo, L, Quashigah, T, Skleparis, D, Splendore, S, Tadesse M, and Lengauer, M (2020) Covering Migration—in Africa and Europe: Results from a Comparative Analysis of 11 Countries, 2020
While the issue of migration has heavily impacted on public debates in the Global North, much les... more While the issue of migration has heavily impacted on public debates in the Global North, much less is known about coverage of migration in the Global South. This pilot study sets out to de-westernize the discussion, by analyzing and comparing news coverage in migrants' destination countries and countries of origin. The study's focus is on media coverage of migration from Africa towards Europe. The paper builds upon prior studies on the coverage of migrants and refugees. A consortium of African and European researchers has conducted a comparative content analysis of migration coverage in 22 opinion-leading newspapers in six European and five sub-Sahara African countries. The study has retrieved 1,512 articles which have appeared in 2015/16. The topic was much less salient in African countries, with only 175 articles found in the African news outlets under study. Coverage in the European destination countries was dominated by domestic issues like border security and migration policy, but also paid attention to the actual migrants-who received much less coverage in the sending countries. Coverage of migration in African media was more negative and focused on disasters at sea. Both African and European media ignored the causes of migration.
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Skleparis, D., & Augestad Knudsen, R. (2020). Localising ‘radicalisation’: Risk assessment practices in Greece and the United Kingdom. The British Journal of Politics and International Relations. https://doi.org/10.1177/1369148120910987
This article juxtaposes anti-radicalisation policy in the United Kingdom, one of the pioneers in ... more This article juxtaposes anti-radicalisation policy in the United Kingdom, one of the pioneers in the field, with Greece, one of the latecomers. Drawing on localisation theory, our aim is to understand how 'common knowledge' of radicalisation and counter-radicalisation has materialised in the United Kingdom and Greece by exploring the development and use of radicalisation-related risk and vulnerability assessment tools. We argue that the radicalisation 'knowledge' was localised more seamlessly in the United Kingdom, which can be attributed to the country's 'norm producer' status on the field of European counter-radicalisation. By contrast, the 'knowledge' was subjected to significant 're-framing' and 'stretching' to fit with the Greek context. This is associated with the country's 'norm adopter' status on the field of European counter-radicalisation, as well as with a 'spill-over effect' from a national context of deeply polarising and contentious counter-terrorism policies. We maintain that these localisation processes reveal two distinct assemblages of governing radicalisation.
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Karyotis, G., Mulvey, G. and Skleparis, D. (2020) Young Syrian refugees in the UK: a two-tier system of international protection?, Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies., 2020
This article explores the experiences of young Syrian refugees in the UK. It looks at how settlem... more This article explores the experiences of young Syrian refugees in the UK. It looks at how settlement plays out for two 'types' of Syrian refugees, those resettled by the UK Government and those who claim asylum in the UK. Drawing on new empirical data from 484 Syrian refugees in the UK, the article compares and contrasts the two groups' access to educational provisions, the labour market and general support mechanisms that should, in principle, be equally available to all refugees. This reveals the scale and consequences of the existing two-tier system of international protection based entirely on how refugees come to be in the UK, rather than any objective analysis of their reason for flight. In doing so, the article seeks to contribute to debates about the process and implications of how host states label people, in this case by de facto treating resettled Syrians as the 'good' refugees, while those who arrive of their own volition, regardless of their needs, are viewed as more problematic.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Skleparis, D. (2017) European Governments’ Responses to the ‘Refugee Crisis’: The Interdependence of EU Internal and External Controls. Southeastern Europe, 41(3), 276-301.
In the face of the 'refugee crisis' , many European governments, even in traditionally liberal st... more In the face of the 'refugee crisis' , many European governments, even in traditionally liberal states, unilaterally introduced a number of restrictive and, often, controversial migration, asylum, and border control policies. The author argues that past legal-bureaucratic choices on migration and asylum policies, ongoing developments in international relations at that time, the structural and perceived capacity of receiving states to cope with the refugee influx, and long-standing migration-related security concerns influenced the responses of many European governments amid the mass population movement. However, the author also suggests that the surfacing of particular policies across Europe was related to the newly elected Greek government's attempted U-turn from similar repressive and controversial policies during that time. In this regard, the author maintains that repressive and controversial migration, asylum, and border control policies cannot simply be abolished within the context of the eu common market and interdependence of eu internal and external controls.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Skleparis, D. (2017) ‘A Europe without Walls, without Fences, without Borders’: A Desecuritisation of Migration Doomed to Fail. Political Studies. DOI: 10.1177/0032321717729631 (Early Online Publication)
It has been commonly argued that amid the so-called 'migration crisis' in 2015, Greece ignored it... more It has been commonly argued that amid the so-called 'migration crisis' in 2015, Greece ignored its Dublin Regulation obligations due to unprecedentedly high migration flows, structural weaknesses, fears and uncertainty. However, this narrative deprives the Greek government of agency. In contrast, this article puts forward an alternative analysis of Greece's attitude. It argues that the Greek government's policy choices in the realms of border controls, migration and asylum in 2015, prior to the 'EU–Turkey deal', manifested a well-calculated desecuritisation strategy with a twofold aim. In this respect, this article provides an analysis of why and how the newly elected SYRIZA-led coalition government embarked on a desecuritising move and assesses the success/effectiveness of this move and the desecuritisation strategy. It argues that although the government's desecuritising move was successful, overall, its desecuritisation strategy failed to produce the anticipated results vis-à-vis the government's twofold aim and intended outcomes.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Heaven Crawley & Dimitris Skleparis (2017): Refugees, migrants, neither, both: categorical fetishism and the politics of bounding in Europe’s ‘migration crisis’, Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, DOI: 10.1080/1369183X.2017.1348224 (Early Online Publication)
The use of the categories ‘refugee’ and ‘migrant’ to differentiate between those on the move and ... more The use of the categories ‘refugee’ and ‘migrant’ to differentiate between those on the move and the legitimacy, or otherwise, of their claims to international protection has featured strongly during Europe’s ‘migration crisis’ and has been used to justify policies of exclusion and containment. Drawing on interviews with 215 people who crossed the Mediterranean to Greece in 2015, our paper challenges this ‘categorical fetishism’, arguing that the dominant categories fail to capture adequately the complex relationship between political, social and economic drivers of migration or their shifting significance for individuals over time and space. As such it builds upon a substantial body of academic literature demonstrating a disjuncture between conceptual and policy categories and the lived experiences of those on the move. However, the paper is also critical of efforts to foreground or privilege ‘refugees’ over ‘migrants’ arguing that this reinforces rather than challenges the dichotomy’s faulty foundations. Rather those concerned about the use of categories to marginalise and exclude should explicitly engage with the politics of bounding, that is to say, the process by which categories are constructed, the purpose they serve and their consequences, in order to denaturalise their use as a mechanism to distinguish, divide and discriminate.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Skleparis, D. (2017) The Politics of Migrant Resistance amid the Greek Economic Crisis, International Political Sociology, 11(2), 113–129
This paper focuses on a particular instance of migrant resistance: the hunger strike of three hun... more This paper focuses on a particular instance of migrant resistance: the
hunger strike of three hundred irregular migrants in 2011 in Greece. It
does not conceptualize the politics of migrant resistance as an isolated
incidence of mobilization of irregular migrants against the government
in support for their rights in existing institutions. By drawing on a set of
fifty-two face-to-face semi-structured interviews with migrant protesters
and organizers of the hunger strike, this paper rather argues that the
politics of migrant resistance is performed in the daily lives and day-today
activities of irregular migrants. It is performed by irregular migrants
and those who stand in solidarity with them through the mundane
production of information, tricks for survival, mutual care, social relations, services exchange, solidarity, and sociability, which challenge security policies and controls and establish an alternative form of life. The differential inclusion of irregular migrants in various social fields, and
the leeway that this inclusion potentially creates in their daily lives and
social relationships, enables irregular migrants to create ties with other
agents/actors in dominated positions in their social fields, who possess
and control the essential capital for the creation of these alternative
modes of life.
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Lazaridis, G. & Skleparis, D. (2016) Securitization of Migration and the Far Right: the case of Greek Security Professionals. International Migration, 54(2), 176–192.
Since the events of 9/11, security concerns have gained unprecedented dominance on western govern... more Since the events of 9/11, security concerns have gained unprecedented dominance on western
governments’ national and international political agendas; Greece has been no exception. The
success or failure of a far right party, like Golden Dawn, depends on the effectiveness of the
government to regulate immigration and to develop policies aimed at combating the racism
which pervades the political culture of society at this particular juncture, when the country is
experiencing severe crisis. The aim is to provide an account of the rationale of the securitization
of migration from the perspective of Greek security professionals. We argue that the
extreme securitizing perceptions of security professionals have been exploited and assisted by
far-right extremist groups, which instilled racial violence, hate speech/crime into society,
resulting in patterned, unreflective, and routinized security practices and discourses which are
more in line with the beliefs and values advocated by the extreme right.
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Skleparis, D. (2016) (In)securitization and illiberal practices on the fringe of the EU. European Security, 25(1), 92-111.
Illiberal practices of liberal regimes have been extensively studied by critical security studies... more Illiberal practices of liberal regimes have been extensively studied by critical security studies. The literature on risk emphasises the idea of imminent dangers and the logic of worst-case scenarios, which eventually unsettle the balance between security and liberty by always favouring the former in its most coercive and exceptional forms. This paper, by drawing on (in)securitization theory, attempts to explain how particular illiberal practices with respect to the control and management of immigration on the fringe of the EU become normalised. It argues that (in)securitization of immigration and illiberal practices are effects of the very functioning of a transnational field of (in)security professionals that are produced through the structural competition between different actors of this field over the definition of security and the appropriate control and management of immigration. In this respect, it uses Greece as a case study and draws on material gathered through interviews with Greek security professionals in Athens, Lesvos, Orestiada, and Alexandroupoli, and analysis of their discourse in dissertations they prepared during their study in police academies.
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Griffith Law Review, Volume (22) Issue (3) (2013), Mar 2014
It has become commonplace to argue that migration in most host states is socially constructed pri... more It has become commonplace to argue that migration in most host states is socially constructed primarily as a security threat, a process known as ‘securitisation’. Political elites and security professionals are identified as the main agents that promote this particular framing of the issue. While securitisation is often implicitly considered as a goal-orientated process, paradoxically few studies have explored its actual consequences on policy and the securitising actors themselves. Adopting a consequentialist ethics approach, this article assesses the implications of the securitisation of migration in Greece, drawing on face-to-face interviews with security professionals, discourse analysis and other primary data. It demonstrates that securitisation harms the interests of not only migrants but also, counter-intuitively, of the state and the elites that supported it in the first place. This leaves only parties of the far-right as the main winners of the security frame that characterises Greece’s stance on immigration since the early 1990s and which continues to pose obstacles to its development of a coherent immigration policy with a long-term view.
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Eteron, 2024
Σε πολλά κράτη-μέλη της Ευρωπαϊκής Ένωσης (ΕΕ), οι αντι-μεταναστευτικές και αντιευρωπαϊκές στάσει... more Σε πολλά κράτη-μέλη της Ευρωπαϊκής Ένωσης (ΕΕ), οι αντι-μεταναστευτικές και αντιευρωπαϊκές στάσεις της κοινής γνώμης «πάνε πακέτο». Στην Ελλάδα, όμως, όχι. Γιατί συμβαίνει αυτό;
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E-IR, 2022
The impending global food crisis has sparked fears in many EU policymakers’ minds of a fresh ‘mig... more The impending global food crisis has sparked fears in many EU policymakers’ minds of a fresh ‘migration crisis’. Concerns that severe food shortages could lead millions from Africa and the Middle East to head to Europe, in a similar fashion to 2015–2016 are prevalent. Yet, the instinctive response of ‘hungry people’ is first to look for food within, not beyond, their country’s borders. Other policymakers’ fears are slightly more nuanced. They emphasise that the soaring food and energy prices could lead to instability, which, in turn, could prompt new mass migration to the EU. Indeed, research evidence suggests that there is a strong correlation between spikes in food and energy costs, socio-political upheavals, and ensuing international migrations. However, underneath the former neo-Malthusian approach, and the latter’s relatively more sober understanding lies a bitter truth: food insecurity makes headlines only when ‘the hungry’ cease to be the ‘usual suspects’.
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Perspectif, 2022
Gıda güvensizliği tek başına göçün tetikleyicisi olmasa da, denkleme sosyo-politik çalkantılar da... more Gıda güvensizliği tek başına göçün tetikleyicisi olmasa da, denkleme sosyo-politik çalkantılar da eklendiğinde durum değişiyor. Peki gıda krizi ve göçilişkisinde hangi faktör ne ölçüde belirleyici oluyor?
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Perspectif - Issue 311, 2022
Millions of Ukrainians fleeing the Russian invasion are met with open arms in Europe. This has no... more Millions of Ukrainians fleeing the Russian invasion are met with open arms in Europe. This has not always been the case for people forced to leave their homes. This rare showing of solidarity sparked a debate on the EU’s responses to refugees, with critical voices raising the issue of racist double standards. Indeed, not so long ago, most European states were quite apprehensive, and many were outright hostile towards Syrians during ‘Europe’s migration crisis’. However, these arguments, important as they may be, miss a crucial point: states instrumentalise population movements for political purposes. The struggle for power between the USA and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) was a key parameter in refugee politics in the post-WW2 era. And as the world rollbacks to another Cold War, geopolitical considerations and power politics are taking again the front seat in state responses to forced displacement. In Cold War refugee politics, race becomes a ‘moldable’ concept.
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The UK public voluntarily agreed to give up fundamental rights and liberties in the fight against... more The UK public voluntarily agreed to give up fundamental rights and liberties in the fight against COVID-19 on the assumption that this suspension applied to everyone – in other words, that governance remained democratic, writes Dimitris Skleparis. This is why Dominic Cummings’s lockdown breach has stirred a heated debate and this is why the government’s handling of the situation has already reduced public trust in democracy.
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Anagnostou, D. and Skleparis, D. (2017) ‘Human rights in European prisons:’ in Daems, T. and Robert, L. (eds.) Europe in Prisons: Assessing the Impact of European Institutions on National Prison Systems, London: Palgrave Macmillan, 37-77.
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Bolani, L., Gemi, E., and Skleparis, D. (2016) 'Refugee Crisis and Asylum Policies in Greece and Italy' in Shteiwi, M. (Ed.) Migrants and Refugees. Impact and Policies. Case Studies of Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey and Greece. EuroMeSCo, Joint Policy Study 4, pp. 82-109.
Southern Europe, and especially Greece and Italy, have been faced with a steady flow of refugees ... more Southern Europe, and especially Greece and Italy, have been faced with a steady flow
of refugees and migrants as a result of various conflicts in Europe’s southern
neighbourhood, demographic change and lack of economic development in parts of the
Middle East, Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, as well as the impact of climate change.
In particular, the Syrian conflict and the transformation of Libya into a failed state have
led to a substantial increase in the number of incoming refugees and migrants, making
the management of those flows by the Greek and Italian authorities almost impossible.
This chapter aims to provide a brief history of irregular migration flows to Greece, present
challenges for border management and the current situation regarding reception facilities
in Greece, followed by statistics, and then analyse the asylum procedure in Greece and
Italy in some detail. Finally, the chapter concludes with a number of policy recommendations.
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Skleparis, D. & Armakolas, I. (2016) ‘The refugee crisis and the role of NGOs, civil society, and media in Greece’ in Phillips, D. L. (ed.) Balkan Human Corridor: Essays on the Refugee and Migrant Crisis from Scholars and Opinion Leaders in Southeast Europe, June 2016, Columbia University, 171-184.
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Karyotis, G. & Skleparis, D. (2016). ‘Resistance to the Criminalization of Migration: Migrant Protest in Greece’ in Lamphear, G., Furman, R. and Epps, D. (eds.) The Immigrant Other. New York: Columbia University Press, 266-282.
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Skleparis, D. (2015) “Towards a hybrid ‘shadow state’? The case of migrant-/refugee- serving NGOs” in Clarke, J., Huliaras, A., & Sotiropoulos, D. (eds.) Austerity and the Third Sector in Greece: Civil Society at the European Frontline, Farnham: Ashgate/Gower, 147-165., 2015
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Karyotis, G. & Skleparis, D. (2014) ‘Migrant Mobilisation during the Economic Crisis: Identity Formation and Dilemmas’ in Tsilimpounidi, M. & Walsh, A. (eds.) Remapping 'Crisis': A Guide to Athens, Ropley, Hampshire: Zero Books, 124 -143., 2013
The Greek debt crisis that started to unfold in 2010 has further exacerbated pre-existing tension... more The Greek debt crisis that started to unfold in 2010 has further exacerbated pre-existing tensions between state, citizens and migrants. Against this backdrop, about 300 immigrants originating mostly from the Maghreb countries and residing illegally in Crete, travelled to Athens and Thessaloniki in January 2011 and commenced a hunger strike, which lasted for 44 days. Supported by solidarity groups and Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), the hunger strikers put their lives at risk but achieved some concessions from the state with regards to their legal status.
This chapter utilises discourse analysis and a set of face-to-face interviews with migrant protesters and organisers of the hunger strike to analyse migrant activism in Greece during the economic crisis. It starts with a broad theoretical overview of framing, linking it to identity and the two dominant, competing frames that apply to immigration policy, the restrictive, realist one and the liberal frame. The following section provides a narrative of the hunger strike and draws on primary interview data to map the ethnic and ideological profile of participants and assess their migrant experience and evaluations of the protest action. The chapter proceeds to explore the framing of the protest movement by analysing its official press releases during and after the action, as well the discourse of supporters and opponents, which, in different ways, challenged or supplemented elements of the projected collective identity. The overall analysis thus offers a comprehensive account of the protest movement, identifies tensions and dilemmas relevant to its attempt to construct a collective identity, and allows for the migrants’ suppressed voices and untold stories to be heard.
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Leontitsis V, Tsagkroni V, Vosinakis G, Gerodimos R, Dimopoulou D, Karyotis G, Skleparis D. (2020) Συγκριτική Ανάλυση Ένταξης Μεταναστών και Προσφύγων στην Ελλάδα [Comparative Analysis of Migrant and Refugee Integration in Greece]. diaNEOsis., 2020
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Anagnostou, D. & Skleparis, D. (2015) Trends in Radicalisation that may lead to Violence: National Background Study, Greece. ELIAMEP, July 2015.
This report focuses on the case of Greece, where the phenomenon of radicalisation has been presen... more This report focuses on the case of Greece, where the phenomenon of radicalisation has been present throughout the period from the mid-1970s. Greece displays one of the most persistent problems of terrorism in Europe, raising anew the question of why extremist and revolutionary organisations continue to emerge and be active in democracies. Since the 2010, right wing and left wing extremism and radicalisation have intensified, especially in the context of a deepening social and economic crisis. The report provides a background study on radicalisation in Greece and the various forms that it takes, as a basis to bridge existing knowledge gaps on the subject. It provides and overview of past and current radicalisation trends. The national background study aims to first, identify and assess the legal and institutional responses to the processes of radicalisation that may lead to acts of violence and second, to review and analyse trends (ideas, actors, actions, motivations and root causes) in three strands of radicalisation (right and left wing, Islamist radicalisation and football hooliganism).
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Rositsa Dzhekova, Luděk Moravec, Pavlína Bláhová, Jan Ludvík, Libor Stejskal, Dia Anagnostou, Dimitris Skleparis, Nadya Stoynova (2017) 'Situational Assessment of Extremist Trends', Center for the Study of Democracy.
Violent extremism is one of the major challenges Europe is currently facing. The threat is both e... more Violent extremism is one of the major challenges Europe is currently facing. The threat is both external as well as internal as indicated by the rise in home-grown Islamist terrorists, as well as of nationalistic and anti-immigrant movements and far-right aggression. An accurate picture of the spread, nature and trends in the extremist and terrorist activity and actors is paramount to formulating strategic policy approaches and effectively allocating available resources. This publication provides a methodological framework for the establishment of a viable mechanism for monitoring and assessment of the state and developments over time in extremist acts and actors on the national level. The situational assessment is an instrument for systematic collection and analysis of statistical data, open source data and intelligence information pertaining to extremist actors and activities, for the purposes of developing regular situational reports of the spread, nature and trends in extremism and violent radicalism. Following the application of the situational assessment tool, the publication presents main findings on extremist trends and monitoring capacities in three countries from Central and Southeast Europe: Bulgaria, the Czech Republic and Greece.
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Dia Anagnostou, Aimilia Kontogianni, Dimitris Skleparis and Giorgos Tzogopoulos (2016) 'Local Government and Migrant Integration in Greece', Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy (ELIAMEP).
Local government plays a key role in the integration of migrants in Europe. Municipalities have a... more Local government plays a key role in the integration of migrants in Europe. Municipalities have assumed an increasingly pro-active role in dealing with the reception of newcomers, as well as with the challenges facing the long-term integration of legally residing migrants. Local and municipal authorities, independently or in cooperation with other public agencies and non-governmental organizations, are providers of a large array of social services in the area of health, education and social and child care. They are also responsible for maintaining the social infrastructure of cities where many ethnic and migrant communities live. The 2011 EU Agenda for the Integration of TCNs has placed particularly strong emphasis on the active involvement and indispensable role of regional and local authorities in the formulation and implementation of migrant integration policies. Despite its importance in confronting multi-ethnic diversity and the challenges of integration, the multifaceted role of local government in the area of migrant integration is neither well understood nor sufficiently researched. In fact, it has remained in the periphery of the otherwise voluminous and rapidly growing area of integration studies. We have limited knowledge about the variety of ways in which local authorities in Europe affect the prospects for a more inclusive multi-cultural society, as well as the conditions and factors that enable or constrain local authorities’ action in this regard. The LOMIGRAS project, of which this report is a part, seeks to contribute towards filling this gap. It explores whether and the extent to which municipalities in Greece develop and implement policies that influence the integration of migrants in the country. In does so specifically in regard to longstanding migrants who began to settle in the country since the late 1980s and especially the 1990s.
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Crawley, H., Duvell, F., Jones, K. and Skleparis, D. (2016) ‘Understanding the dynamics of migration to Greece and the EU: drivers, decisions and destinations’, MEDMIG Research Brief No.2.
The Brief focuses on four main themes: The factors affecting the decision to leave; Journeys and... more The Brief focuses on four main themes:
The factors affecting the decision to leave;
Journeys and routes taken to reach Greece;
Intended destinations of those migrating;
The use of smugglers to facilitate the journey.
The clearest finding emerging from this research is the striking disconnect between the evidence on the drivers of migration across the Eastern Mediterranean Route and EU policies of containment.
Whilst increased arrivals are largely the result of conflict and instability in the region, most notably in Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Eritrea and, most recently, Yemen, they also reflect the ‘coming together’ of a number of distinct ‘sub-flows’ from many countries and regions. These sub-flows are made up of individuals and families who have been displaced for months and even years looking for a place where they can secure protection and an opportunity to rebuild their lives.
What is often considered a homogeneous flow of refugees and migrants across the sea should in reality, therefore, be seen as a series of sub-flows that converge in Turkey.
The failure of EU policies to respond effectively to the increased movement of people across the Mediterranean in 2015 was in part a problem of implementation but also reflected flawed assumptions about the reasons why people move, the factors that shape their longer-term migration trajectories and their journeys to Europe.
There is a need for nuanced, tailored and targeted policy responses which reflect these diverse, stratified and increasingly complex flows.
The extent to which the policy of containment will continue to reduce flows to Greece and the EU remains to be seen. The future of the EU-Turkey agreement, already subject to legal challenge, has been brought into serious doubt as a result of the attempted Turkish coup of 15th July and subsequent political crackdown. Around 100 people arrived in Greece each day during August 2016, up from an average of 60 per day in July. It is too early to tell whether this is the beginning of an upward trend.
Meanwhile there are 58,635 people stranded in Greece many of whom have been unable to access procedures for asylum or family reunification. The refugee relocation scheme from Greece, explicitly described as an act of European solidarity and responsibility sharing by the European Commission,has relocated just 2,682 people of the 66,400 (4%) originally agreed.
Finding protection in Europe remains elusive, even for those coming from some of the most desperate war-torn situations in the region. These drivers are powerful and seem likely to persist into the future. In the absence of safe and legal routes to protection for those outside Europe – and a significant increase in relocation and family reunification opportunities for those who are stuck in Greece – the prospect of a ‘solution’ to the Mediterranean migration crisis remains to be found.
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This paper is based on collaborative research into smartphone use among Syrian refugees using mix... more This paper is based on collaborative research into smartphone use among Syrian refugees using mixed and mobile methods. It identified a huge gap in the provision of relevant, reliable and timely news and information for refugees, forcing them to rely on unreliable sources circulating on social media, exposing them to even greater risks and dangers, and exacerbating an already dire Humanitarian crisis. The report was launched in conjunction with the BBC's World On the Move Day. It urges the European Commission to seize the initiative to put pressure on European member states and news organisations to fulfil their obligations under the UN Refugee Charter to provide vital and timely information for refugees - information that can sometimes make the difference between life and death. The EC is in a good position to facilitate a partnerships between Member States, news organisations, tech companies, NGOs and other stakeholders to orchestrate a co-ordinated, sustainable, up-to-date news and information strategy for refugees based on the recommended best practice principles identified in the report.
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: Karyotis, G., Colburn, B., Doyle, L., Hermannsson, K., Mulvey, G., and Skleparis, D. (2018) Building a New Life in Britain: The Skills, Experiences and Aspirations of Young Syrian Refugees, Building Futures Policy Report No 1, Glasgow: Policy Scotland.
This report, the first of the project, presents original research evidence based on 1,516 face-to... more This report, the first of the project, presents original research evidence based on 1,516 face-to-face interviews with young Syrian international protection beneficiaries and applicants, 18-32 years old, which were conducted in the UK, Lebanon and Greece, between April and October 2017. Key findings from this comparative analysis inform our policy recommendations concerning the settlement, training and skills provision for young forced migrants in the UK.
Key Findings:
- Young Syrian refugees in the UK have the highest levels of skills and training, and are most eager to remain and contribute to the host country, compared with those in Greece and Lebanon.
- Young Syrian refugees are faced with higher levels of unemployment in the UK than citizens, while many of them who are in employment are doing jobs for which they are over-qualified.
- Refugees in the UK receive better support and have an overall more positive experience and evaluation of actors compared to those in Greece and Lebanon, but access to key provisions designed to enhance labour market participation remains patchy.
- Syrian refugees who have been resettled to the UK report overall more positive experiences than those coming through the asylum route, despite higher levels of employment among the latter and the government supposedly taking the more vulnerable among the former.
- Young Syrians in Scotland are better supported, and more positive about their engagement with people and institutions, although they are currently more distanced from re-integration into the labour market compared to those settled in England.
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Skleparis, D. & Karyotis, G. (2018) Integrationspolitik in Griechenland. Juli 2018, Ausgabe 309, Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung e. V.
* In Griechenland lebten 2017 etwa 543.000 Drittstaatsangehörige. Dies entspricht etwa 5 Prozent ... more * In Griechenland lebten 2017 etwa 543.000 Drittstaatsangehörige. Dies entspricht etwa 5 Prozent der Gesamtbevölkerung
des Landes. Überwiegend stammen sie aus dem benachbarten Albanien.
* Im Unterschied zu den starken Einwanderungswellen der frühen 1990er Jahre hat sich Griechenland im Zuge
der Flüchtlingsmigration der letzten Jahre vom Zielland zum Transitland gewandelt.
* Gesetze zur Legalisierung von Migranten standen um die Jahrtausendwende im Zentrum der Integrationspolitik
des Landes. Darauf folgten ab 2006 erste sozioökonomische Maßnahmen.
* Einwanderer sind überwiegend in hochprekären Beschäftigungsverhältnissen angestellt. Die Finanz- und Wirtschaftskrise
hat ihre Lage im Land erschwert.
* Flüchtlinge wurden bisher kaum in den Arbeitsmarkt und die Gesellschaft integriert. Die einheimische Bevölkerung
steht deren Integration überwiegend skeptisch gegenüber.
* Wo nationale Systeme nicht ausreichen, müssen häufig NGOs oder internationale Organisationen eingreifen. Unter der angespannten wirtschaftlichen Lage und anhaltenden Sparmaßnahmen leidet auch die Integrationspolitik des Landes.
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Skleparis, D. (2018) 'Refugee Integration in Mainland Greece: Prospects and Challenges'. Policy Brief 02, Yasar University UNESCO Chair on International Migration
This policy brief provides an outline of the prospects for and challenges to integration of inter... more This policy brief provides an outline of the prospects for and challenges to integration of international protection beneficiaries and applicants in mainland Greece, based on emerging research findings. It focuses on three policy areas, which are key to social and economic integration: (1) labour market; (2) healthcare and social welfare services; and (3) education and training. Structural factors, such as a shrinking labour market, high unemployment rates and an ongoing restructuring of labour relations, as well as various bureaucratic hurdles hinder labour market access. A generally overwhelmed and underfunded health system, the ongoing curtailment of social welfare provisions, and a number of practical obstacles limit access to healthcare and social welfare services. Despite the significant progress that has been recorded in the area of integration of refugee children in Greek schools, some practical problems still persist, while there are still steps to be taken towards their formal integration in school life. On the other hand, limited progress has been recorded in the area of integration of adult refugees in higher education and vocational training programmes. The brief concludes that apart from objective obstacles, various perceived issues of concern among the public, as well as the living conditions of displaced persons who remain on the islands equally hinder the prospects for refugee integration in mainland Greece.
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Skleparis, D. (2017) 'The Greek response to the migration challenge: 2015-2017', KAS Katoptron #5. Athens: Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung Greece
• The SYRIZA-led coalition government attempted to perform a 180-degree turn from the rather rest... more • The SYRIZA-led coalition government attempted to perform a 180-degree turn from the rather
restrictive migration and asylum policies of the previous governments.
• Very few of the SYRIZA/ANEL coalition government’s pledges actually materialised. The
long-promised policy shift was rather designed to fail as it was largely symbolic and paid no
consideration to the broader context and changing policy dynamics.
• The closure of the ‘Western Balkan route’ and the activation of the EU-Turkey Statement in
March 2016 interrupted the government’s attempted U-turn.
• In order to make the EU-Turkey Statement operable in the country, the government introduced
laws that tightened Greece’s asylum, detention, deportation, and external border controls
policies anew.
• These very laws also brought to the fore the issue of refugee integration into the Greek society.
Designing and delivering measures for the integration of international protection beneficiaries
and applicants appears to be particularly challenging in the current state of play.
• Three pressing issues will have to be addressed sooner or later in 2017 by the Greek State:
improvement of first reception and accommodation conditions; acceleration of the examination
of the international protection, relocation, and family reunification applications; integration
of international protection beneficiaries and applicants in the labour market.
• The extent to which these issues will be effectively addressed depends on the ability of the
Greek government and the EU to surpass certain well-known structural obstacles.
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This paper explores overlooked dynamics relevant to the criminalisation and securitisation of mig... more This paper explores overlooked dynamics relevant to the criminalisation and securitisation of migration, with Greece serving as a case-study. Reminiscent of an heroic episode in ancient Greek history, where Leonidas and the Spartans willingly stood to their inevitable death against the mass Persian army, about 300 irregular migrants engaged in a 44-day hunger strike in January 2011, achieving some concessions from the state. The paper draws on a set of face-to-face interviews with these migrant protesters, complemented by discourse analysis. Its aims are twofold: firstly, to analyse the impact of securitisation and of the economic downturn on the migrant experience; and secondly, to explore the migrants' attempt to resist and react to their criminalisation through organised protest action. The first section sets the stage for the analysis by looking at the national context and migration patterns. The second section discusses the migrants' own evaluations of their lived experiences and mobilisation. The third section then reflects on the discursive strategies that migrant protesters themselves employed to influence migration discourse and policy. The analysis demonstrates that the prevalence of restrictive frames and policies on migration, predictably, increase migrant insecurity, abuse and deprivation. Nevertheless, irregular migrants are able and willing to escape their invisibility, even temporarily, by challenging established frames, making strategic alliances and engaging in highly political, rational and ideologically defined protest action.
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The ‘Liberal Peace’ is the predominant framework within which the post-Cold war world order is co... more The ‘Liberal Peace’ is the predominant framework within which the post-Cold war world order is conceptualized. This ideological amalgam of neo-liberal notions of democracy, market sovereignty, and conflict resolution characterizes and guides contemporary intervention and peacebuilding strategies through the creation of a self-sustaining peace. Within this framework, the world is implicitly understood as moving naturally towards liberal democracy and development. Yet, this course is sometimes abnormally disrupted due to internal wars that occasionally erupt, which are usually of identity character, extremely violent, and cause complete state and social breakdown. However, this way of conceptualizing contemporary world order and wars has been criticized for generating an inadequate understanding of the post-Cold war advancements and the new wars. Moreover, it has been argued that the strategies that are employed under the auspices of ‘Liberal Peace’, aim at maintaining the international stability and liberal order by attempting to cure the symptoms, rather than the structurally embedded sources of instability, which are deliberately ignored. In this respect, an alternative theoretical framework for understanding the post-Cold war world order and the new wars, and re-conceptualizing contemporary intervention and peacebuilding operations, is put forward. It is argued that contemporary world is transforming into a complex form of feudalism. The internal wars that occasionally erupt within this context are understood in terms of emergence of new political projects and political economies, some elements of which are able to adapt to post-war environments and coexist with peacebuilding operations. Under this perspective, contemporary intervention strategies are re-conceptualized as a form of global liberal governance. This theoretical framework is then applied on the case of Kosovo in order to explain the emergence of the ‘Parallel State’ in the early 1990s and its transformation during and after the war. Finally, a re-conceptualization of ‘humanitarian interventionism’ in relation to Kosovo is presented.
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Environment and Planning C: Politics and Space
Access to social rights is crucial to refugee settlement and integration, and a whole range of so... more Access to social rights is crucial to refugee settlement and integration, and a whole range of social policy measures determine the limits on those rights. In the United Kingdom (UK) various relevant social policies are divided into devolved and reserved categories. This has resulted in a distinct territorial variance in social rights and welfare provisions within the country. The aim of this article is to explore how young Syrian refugees experience this territorial divergence in two jurisdictions: in Scotland, where they are part social citizens; and in England, where access to social rights is more limited. We use the prism of social citizenship as a means of examining the experiences of settlement and integration of Syrian refugees in the two nations. We draw out contrasts between these experiences and locate them within the interactions between the politics of welfare and refugee politics in the two nations. We argue that fine variances in England’s and Scotland’s social rights...
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Central European Journal of Communication
Six years after the so-called ‘refugee crisis’ in 2015, the European Union remains divided on que... more Six years after the so-called ‘refugee crisis’ in 2015, the European Union remains divided on questions of migration and asylum policy. The issue also remains high on the agendas of the USA and Russia, two other key destination countries with immigration from Latin America and the Post-Soviet space. This article presents results from a comparative study of news coverage in 17 countries, focusing on 10 EU member states in Western and Central Eastern Europe (CEE), the USA and Russia. The intensity of coverage was remarkably different, with Hungary’s and Germany’s media standing out while Russian media displayed relatively low levels of coverage. Individual migrants and refugees were most visible in the two outlets from the USA. Media in CEE countries tended towards a more critical approach than media in Western Europe. However, differences between most countries’ pairs of analyzed media outlets indicate a more pluralistic debate than frequently assumed.
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The British Journal of Politics and International Relations, 2021
New migrant movements increasingly rely on unconventional forms of protest, which they strategica... more New migrant movements increasingly rely on unconventional forms of protest, which they strategically frame in rational terms, rather than as ‘acts of desperation’ that dominate public representations. This article demonstrates this empirically through a prototypical case of new migrant activism, employing discourse analysis to explore the collective framing of a hunger strike involving irregular migrants in Greece, which was, however, contested by other protest users. Drawing on rare and pertinent data collected through face-to-face interviews with hunger strikers, we find that the strategic or rationalist framing of the hunger strike, promoted by its leaders, was largely shared with individual protesters at the basis of the mobilisation, contrary to the publicly proliferated affective frames. Using quantitative methods, we show, for the first time, that the degree of frame alignment is not only important for the legitimacy of a movement but is also a significant predictor of future...
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Austerity and the Third Sector in Greece, 2016
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This chapter explores the domestic implementation of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) j... more This chapter explores the domestic implementation of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) judgments that are related to overcrowding and poor material conditions in European prisons. The first part describes the processes and mechanisms of domestic implementation of ECtHR’s judgments, their supervision and monitoring by the Committee of Ministers, and the extent and the ways in which they can influence domestic reform of the penitentiary system. On the basis of an initial data set of 165 judgments, which we have compiled, the second part of the chapter provides an overview of the relevant ECtHR’s judgments and the issues that they raise, the states most frequently implicated, and the nature and range of measures that national authorities institute in response to the Strasbourg Court’s judgments that find violations of the Convention. The third part describes and discusses the kind of reforms and measures that national authorities undertake by way of implementing the general me...
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Η κρίση του 2015-16 και η απότομη αύξηση των ροών από τη Μέση Ανατολή και τη Βόρeιο Αφρική δημιού... more Η κρίση του 2015-16 και η απότομη αύξηση των ροών από τη Μέση Ανατολή και τη Βόρeιο Αφρική δημιούργησαν ένα πιeστικό και πολύπλοκο πολιτικό, οικονομικό και κοινωνικό πλαίσιο στην Eλλάδα και την Eυρώπη. Το πλαίσιο αυτό χαρακτηρίστηκe από το κλeίσιμο των συνόρων, τη συμφωνία EE-Τουρκίας, τη δημιουργία προσωρινών δομών φιλοξeνίας, συχνά ανeπαρκών, αλλά και από έντονη κοινωνική δυσαρέσκeια. Σύμφωνα μe την Ύπατη Αρμοστeία του ΟΗE για τους Πρόσφυγeς, από τις αρχές του 2014 και μέχρι τον Οκτώβριο του 2019, πeρίπου 2.050. 000 άτομα διέσχισαν τη Μeσόγeιο αναζητώντας ένα καλύτeρο μέλλον. 3 Οι χώρeς της Νότιας Eυρώπης αποτέλeσαν και αποτeλούν τα κύρια σημeία eισόδου στην Eυρώπη. Η δe Eλλάδα, λόγω της γeωγραφικής της θέσης, βρίσκeται στο eπίκeντρο αυτού του φαινομένου.
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European Political Science Review, 2021
Support for social distancing measures was, globally, high at the early stages of the COVID-19 pa... more Support for social distancing measures was, globally, high at the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic but increasingly came under pressure. Focusing on the UK, this article provides a rigorous exploration of the drivers of public support for social distancing at their formative stage, via mixed methods. Synthesizing insights from crisis management and securitization theory, thematic analysis is employed to map the main frames promoted by the government and other actors on the nature/severity, blame/responsibility, and appropriate response to the pandemic, which ‘follows the science’. The impact of these on public attitudes is examined via a series of regression analyses, drawing on a representative survey of the UK population (n = 2100). Findings challenge the prevailing understanding that support for measures is driven by personal health considerations, socio-economic circumstances, and political influences. Instead, crisis framing dynamics, which the government is well-positione...
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The British Journal of Politics and International Relations, 2020
This article juxtaposes anti-radicalisation policy in the United Kingdom, one of the pioneers in ... more This article juxtaposes anti-radicalisation policy in the United Kingdom, one of the pioneers in the field, with Greece, one of the latecomers. Drawing on localisation theory, our aim is to understand how ‘common knowledge’ of radicalisation and counter-radicalisation has materialised in the United Kingdom and Greece by exploring the development and use of radicalisation-related risk and vulnerability assessment tools. We argue that the radicalisation ‘knowledge’ was localised more seamlessly in the United Kingdom, which can be attributed to the country’s ‘norm producer’ status on the field of European counter-radicalisation. By contrast, the ‘knowledge’ was subjected to significant ‘re-framing’ and ‘stretching’ to fit with the Greek context. This is associated with the country’s ‘norm adopter’ status on the field of European counter-radicalisation, as well as with a ‘spill-over effect’ from a national context of deeply polarising and contentious counter-terrorism policies. We maint...
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Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 2020
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Southeastern Europe, 2017
In the face of the ‘refugee crisis’, many European governments, even in traditionally liberal sta... more In the face of the ‘refugee crisis’, many European governments, even in traditionally liberal states, unilaterally introduced a number of restrictive and, often, controversial migration, asylum, and border control policies. The author argues that past legal-bureaucratic choices on migration and asylum policies, ongoing developments in international relations at that time, the structural and perceived capacity of receiving states to cope with the refugee influx, and long-standing migration-related security concerns influenced the responses of many European governments amid the mass population movement. However, the author also suggests that the surfacing of particular policies across Europe was related to the newly elected Greek government’s attempted U-turn from similar repressive and controversial policies during that time. In this regard, the author maintains that repressive and controversial migration, asylum, and border control policies cannot simply be abolished within the cont...
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Political Studies, 2017
It has been commonly argued that amid the so-called ‘migration crisis’ in 2015, Greece ignored it... more It has been commonly argued that amid the so-called ‘migration crisis’ in 2015, Greece ignored its Dublin Regulation obligations due to unprecedentedly high migration flows, structural weaknesses, fears and uncertainty. However, this narrative deprives the Greek government of agency. In contrast, this article puts forward an alternative analysis of Greece’s attitude. It argues that the Greek government’s policy choices in the realms of border controls, migration and asylum in 2015, prior to the ‘EU–Turkey deal’, manifested a well-calculated desecuritisation strategy with a twofold aim. In this respect, this article provides an analysis of why and how the newly elected SYRIZA-led coalition government embarked on a desecuritising move and assesses the success/effectiveness of this move and the desecuritisation strategy. It argues that although the government’s desecuritising move was successful, overall, its desecuritisation strategy failed to produce the anticipated results vis-à-vis...
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International Political Sociology, 2016
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International Migration, 2015
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European Security, 2015
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It has become commonplace to argue that migration in most host states is socially constructed pri... more It has become commonplace to argue that migration in most host states is socially constructed primarily as a security threat, a process known as ‘securitisation’. Political elites and security professionals are identified as the main agents that promote this particular framing of the issue. While securitisation is often implicitly considered as a goal-orientated process, paradoxically few studies have explored its actual consequences on policy and the securitising actors themselves. Adopting a consequentialist ethics approach, this article assesses the implications of the securitisation of migration in Greece, drawing on face-to-face interviews with security professionals, discourse analysis and other primary data. It demonstrates that securitisation harms the interests not only of migrants but also, counter-intuitively, of the state and the elites that supported it in the first place. This leaves only parties of the far right as the main winners of the security frame that has chara...
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Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 2017
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