THE AUTONOMY OF MIGRATION AFTER ITS SUMMER (original) (raw)
Democracy presupposes the existence of a political body – the demos – which is the legitimate holder of the sovereign rights. The identity of the State, as well as the possibility of the existence of a democratic political regime, is founded upon the cohesion of this political body. In 19th and 20th centuries Europe, this cohesion was expressed through a certain idea of the 'nation', a constructed notion of cohesiveness of a territorial community. But what is becoming of this political body at a time when porousness of State borders allows for the massive intrusion of populations perceived as being fundamentally extraneous, therefore threatening (Girard 1982)? Which is the place of the immigrant in the Western democracies? And which are the means through which the State reacts when confronted to this type of identity threat? Our contribution will try to map the main interrogations that cross the relation between democracy, migrations and sovereignty in the 21st century. We will argue that, while the political body of the nation-State is fragilized by immigration, new ways of re-institute the cohesiveness of its political community are set up by the State in order to enhance its identity through difference with respect to others. These include the consolidation of external borders (a policy trend in the EU), but also enhancing the symbolic internal boundaries between “us” and “the others”. The recent discourse of the European leaders about the failure of the multiculturalism is an example of this attempt to re-institute difference.
Recuperating the Sideshows of Capitalism: The Autonomy of Migration Today
This text is a reflection on our 2007 contribution to the TRANSIT MIGRATION research project, ÒThe Autonomy of Migration: Ten Theses Towards a Methodology.Ó 1 Within the project, we analyzed the movements of migration and the migration policies deployed against them at the edges of the EU, in order to decipher the contours of a new regime of emerging migration politics. We were interested in investigating, from the perspective of social theory, what was symptomatic in movements of migration. We were interested in tracing the crossing of borders, the traversing of territories, the enmeshing of cultures, the unsettling of institutions (first among them nation-states, but also citizenship), the connecting of languages, and the flight from exploitation and oppression Ð interested, in other words, in investigating what migration teaches us about the conditions of contemporary forms of sociality, and that which goes beyond them. With this article, we pick up the thread and offer some furt...
Migrations: a transverse approach to the European Union
More than a million migrants and refugees have crossed into Europe during last year sparking a crisis and creating division in an EU under debate. Migration is not only refugee crisis and involves more things. It is important to understand it. The aim of this book is to summarize the migration phenomenon, its causes, factors, and types focusing on the relevant dates to the European Union. The first part of the book analyses the general framework of migration: the stages of the phenomenon, causes, and a revision of the main theories which explain people international movements. The second part focuses on the migration flows in the European Union: colonization movement, evolution and conventions, and agreements. The third part analyses the regulation under EU Treaties and Derived law. Finally, current crisis and the role played by EU institutions were described. This book constitutes an essential reference to understand the migration phenomenon and its implications in the case of EU. A new concern to a weaken EU Rabanal , González Sánchez
Migration in Southern Europe since 1945: The Entanglement of many Mobilities
Revue européenne des migrations internationales, 2018
The traditional distinction between overseas emigration, internal migration and immigration from abroad has been for a long time the main organizational criterion of research on migration. Seen from the perspective of political history, it can be useful to separate these phenomena. However, the opinion is growing among social science scholars that different perspectives have to proceed together. This distinction is based exclusively on the notion of State boundaries, and if empirically analysed it does not seem to hold water: societies are not homogenous entities within a border determined by national frontiers, just as much as the migration paths which cross the frontiers are not different from those that occur within a national territory. It stands to reason therefore that even international migrations have local origins, exactly as is the case with migrations which occur within one country . If one adopts the perspective of social and economic history, the State's compact geographical surface is shattered into a heterogeneous multitude of social configurations, consisting of contacts and relationships, family networks, contexts and real spaces, formal and informal institutions, social practices and repertoires. Only by considering this, is it possible to understand how the migratory dynamics function, namely, by gathering analytically the concrete mechanisms that bring people and groups to move. Migration scholars talk about a mesolevel, which represents a specific ambit of analysis that finds itself between -and with clear links to -the compulsions and the needs of the individuals and the major economic, political and cultural forces at play (de Haas, 2010). Once this default position has been adopted, the crossing -or not as the case may be -of a border -be it governmental, regional or sub-regional -becomes a further factor to add to many others in a complex dynamic of migration: this engagement with the various institutions is not always a decisive element,
Migration to Germany: structures, processes, and discourses
Taking the example of Germany as a demographically ageing country, this paper starts with the assumption that international migration and a sound long-term integration of international migrants are crucial for sustainable population development. However, owing to the complexity of migration motives and individual migration decisions on the one hand, and the multidimensionality of external causes for migration and political regulations aiming to steer migration, on the other hand, the demand and supply side of migration can vary considerably. This paper reflects on recent important migratory movements to Germany (notably inner-European mobility after the expansion of the European Union (EU), and student and refugee migration in the wake of the economic and financial crisis) and con-comitant policy changes. Two main arguments are made along these empirical observations: first, the effective regulation of international migration in Germany as in any other European country can only be derived by harmonising migration regulations on a supranational level, and second, the issue of migration and its regulation touch on crucial topics in European and national public discourse such as the stabilisation of individual and group identities in turbulent times. Thus, as per the arguments put forth by this study, in order to solve actual imbalances in the European migration and asylum system, questions on social justice and common European values will need to be addressed throughout the European countries and at the EU level.
From Nation State to Migration State
Economics & Sociology, 2010
International migration and its consequences-the integration of newcomers to a society-has, in just a few years' time, developed from a purely demographic phenomenon into an issue that has altered the 'being' of the Western Nation-state in all its facets. The topic largely dominates the political debate in Flanders, Belgium and at the level of the European Union.
Migration in the Age of the Nation-state: Migrants, Refugees, and the National Order of Things
2014
This article attends to the historical and contemporary relationship between migration and the global international order. It takes as its point of departure the argument that comprehensive analyses of migration must not only transcend the traditional subjects, objects, and assumptions of international relations theory, but also interrogate and historicize that which conditions the possibility of the international order, namely, the nation-state. As such, it attends to the emergence and consolidation of the international order, to the role of migration in its production, and to the manner in which it continues to structure the field and practices of migration, and conditions the possibilities of migrant populations. Thinking about migrants and refugees from an international perspective has usually entailed thinking about the technologies (the laws, statutes, and practices) that govern the crossing of internationally recognized territorial borders; thinking about trans-or international legal frameworks and conventions that attempt to govern international population movements; identifying, mapping, and analyzing migratory routes, patterns, and types; and identifying and attending to the ways in which international migration has, in the words of Stephen Castles and Mark J. Miller, reforged societies. 1 In this last instance, what is attended to is the manner in which migrants and refugees transform the economic, political, and sociocultural complexion of immigrant-receiving societies; the economic, political, and sociocultural responses of these societies to the aforesaid changes; and the ways in which the identities of the migrants and refugees and the complexions of immigrant-sending societies are likewise transformed and reforged. Taking the issue with the methodological and ontological assumptions and frameworks that guide these studies, Castles and Miller level against them the fundamental criticism that they artificially rupture and compartmentalize the ''migratory process.'' 2 In The Age of Migration: International
Austria - Country Report: Legal and Policy Framework of Migration Governance
The report aims at both outlining the history of migration to Austria, the socio-economic, political and cultural context surrounding migration and mapping the institutional frameworks. In the first section, a statistical overview will be presented, followed by sections on the above mentioned contexts, constitutional organisation and principles regarding migration. Chapter four will present the relevant legislative and institutional framework in the fields of migration and asylum. Chapter five is mapping the legal status of foreigners, followed by the last chapter on reform caused by the “refugee crisis”. Austria has a long tradition of being a destination country for migrants and refugees, a country that for decades promoted labour migration and admitted refugees during the communist era of Eastern Europe as well as during the time of the Balkan Wars. The notion of the latest advent of mass migration to Austria relates to the increasing number of asylum applications since 2013 and in particular in 2015. In that year alone, application numbers reached a six decade high of 88,340 persons, while thousands of others crossed federal territory for their onward journey. Besides the quantity and frequency of immigration, this latest phase also displays novelties concerning the composition of the newcomers in terms of countries of origin. Arguably, the three largest groups of asylum applicants in 2015, namely Syrians, Afghans and Iraqis, are relatively new to Austria, with their numbers increasing by 1,265 per cent, 430 per cent, and 232 per cent respectively between 2011 and 2017. The federal overall policy goal however, aimed at reducing the number of newcomers in the long run. In 2016, the entitlement to asylum was accordingly limited initially to three years and family reunification was restrained through application time limits. The federal government also introduced a unilateral annual quota for asylum applications that allows for acting upon an emergency decree and suspending further processing of applications upon exhaustion. Apart from state internal conflicts, border management and the distribution of refugees from hotspots became highly contested issues in Austria’s relationship to other EU member states. While the principle of asylum is deeply embedded in the Austrian constitution and European Union law, the governance of immigration and asylum has in recent years been repeatedly impeded by the Constitutional Court (VfGH), which intervened in both federal and provincial laws that aimed at restricting refugee’s rights and entitlements. It was not only the state and its institutions that affected the life of immigrants and refugees, the so-called ‘refugee crisis’ has doubtlessly also had an impact on the Austrian political landscape. It was a top priority topic on the political agenda paired with strong public opinions. Accordingly, in the wake of the crisis, the federal government underwent a reconfiguration with party internal exchanges of prominent figures such as the interior minister and the chancellor in early 2016. During the national elections of 2017, asylum and migration remained highly salient topics. The major winning parties were the right-wing FPÖ, which had had a strong ownership of the issue for decades, and the conservative ÖVP, whose lead candidate had previously been foreign minister and had particularly pushed an agenda for order and security.
The European Border Regime in Crisis. Theory, Methods and Analyses in Critical European Studies
Rosa Luxemburg Studien, 2017
Between 2009 and 2013, the research group known as ‘State Project Europe’ based at the Institute for Social Research in Frankfurt and at Marburg University investigated the Europeanisation of migration policies.1 The inquiry focused on the Federal Republic of Germany, the United Kingdom and Spain as key examples of EU member states. The following paper summarises the central theoretical and methodological results of this study. The first section develops and unpacks the theoretical premises of a historical materialist theory of the state. The section that follows presents the historical materialist policy analysis (HMPA) approach which has been developed within this context and that allowed us to operationalise the theoretical premises for our empirical studies. The last section analyses the social forces at play in the field of European migration policy in order to show that the project of migration management became hegemonic in Europe and how, since late summer 2015, it has entered into a state of crisis. The study identifies five ‘hegemony projects’ that fought over the mode of European integration: a neoliberal, a conservative, two social projects and a left-liberal alternative one. In the field of migration policy, the conflicts between these projects condensed into the hegemonic political project of ‘migration management’. This project, driven by demands of corporations, certain capital fractions and neoliberal ‘experts’, aimed at making increased and flexible immigration of workers into and within the EU politically feasible by integrating certain migration policy demands from other hegemony projects – key among them were repressive border controls, protection of genuine refugees and national-social privileges. The concluding section analyses current dynamics. It focusses on Germany and Austria because these countries are at the forefront of a major conflict about the European migration regime, starting with the ‘Summer of Migration’ of 2015. As a result, the migration management project has entered a period of crisis and readjustment, leading, first, to a partial opening of European borders and then to a temporary renationalisation and extensive expansion of the repressive elements of the border regime. When the refugees had made it over the borders with self-confidence and found support from a large ‘welcome movement’, which can be attributed to a discursive alliance of the left-liberal alternative and the pro-European social hegemony project, it was possible to shift discourses and practices to the left. On the basis of decades of mobilisation and not least of self-organised refugee protests, these actors were able to strengthen their position in the migration-political relations of force in Germany and Austria, the main receiving countries in the Summer of Migration. This was ultimately also mirrored in the attitude of the German federal government. The latter can only be grasped in its complexity and inconsistency by concluding that the strategies of the progressive hegemony projects coincided with those of the neoliberal hegemony project: both strategies were linked. The Merkel government was able to rely on influential actors that can be seen as part of the neoliberal hegemony project, including economists, representatives of capital and the neoliberal press. The conservative and national-social hegemony project, on the other hand, fell behind. The temporary revocation of the asymmetrical compromise of ‘migration management’ by the actors associated with the progressive and neoliberal hegemony projects, triggered a major chauvinistic counter-movement, especially on the part of the racist (völkische) fraction of the conservative project. The growing influence of these forces intensified until March 2016, when the Aegean and Balkan routes were effectively closed and significant restrictions to asylum laws were introduced in Germany and Austria. The coming years will show whether neoliberal forces will succeed in overcoming their prevalent crisis of hegemony and can re-stabilise the project of migration management by pushing back racist (völkische) actors and by reintegrating other actors of the conservative project. Such integration efforts are already apparent, for example in the support neoliberal actors give to the externalisation of the European border regime. The further direction of European migration policy, however, very much depends on whether there are forces that are able to develop a counter-hegemonic project of transnational solidarity.
Global Heimat Germany. Migration and the Transnationalization of the Nation-State
2004
Author(s): Romhild, Regina | Abstract: The article explores the increasing gap between the cultural dynamics of transnationalization in Germany and the national self-perception of the German society. While concepts of "in-migration" (Zuwanderung) and "integration" still stick to notions of the nation-state as being a "container" embracing and controlling a population and a culture of its own, the various processes of material and imaginary mobility across the national borders contradict and challenge this notion as well as its political implications. By drawing on the transnational life-worlds and the cultural productivity of migrants, anthropological research has made important contributions to render visible this challenge. It is argued, however, that an all too exclusive focus on migration may, in fact, rather conceal the wider effects of transnationalisation and cultural globalisation on the society and its cultural fabric as a whole.
Bullettin of the Serbian Geographical Society, 2016
The creation of the Schengen area has modified the political geography of migration with important implications from a variety of perspectives, all of which affect the migration management policies of EU member States as well as those of third countries. On the one hand, the Schengen area established the first supranational border in the history of Europe; on the other hand, it obliged a small group of countries (those bordering non-EU States) to monitor the new border, manage refugee flows and repatriate illegal migrants from third countries, despite often being unprepared to tackle the migration phenomenon. The policies implemented in both the Mediterranean and continental countries have revealed a lack of long-term vision in dealing with several migration related issues. Currently, the absence of a single EU migration policy, the egocentric approach of some non-Mediterranean European countries and the re-emergence of border walls characterize the context. Nevertheless, migration flows and terrorism in Europe represent significant opportunities to strengthen the common European area, rather than weakening it. Moreover, evidence suggests that such global phenomena are better addressed at a supranational level rather than on a national basis.
Migration Movements, Territorial Borders and Places of Exclusion
21st Century Migrations: Fluxes, Policies and Politics, 2016
The definition and management of European frontiers has historically been a complex exercise in geopolitical terms. Certainly, the main scenario over the last decade has been one in which the Euro-Mediterranean frontier has been subjected to pressure from repeated so-called “migration emergencies”. The increase in migration flows over recent years is certainly quite exceptional when compared to the average rate of arrivals during the previous decade, but one can- not help but question whether it is so exceptional as to justify the sequence of unilateral actions to reinforce national border controls carried out by several European countries in recent months. In other words, the question is whether the present geopolitical impasse on the Mediterranean borders of Europe is simply a migration crisis in the narrowest sense or whether it is a result of a “crisis of policy”.