Migrants as Anti-Citizens (original) (raw)
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Migrants as Anti-Citizens (Turkish Review 2012)
This article tries to reveal the recent debates revolving around the issue of migration in Europe, and claims that migration has recently become securitized and stigmatized in a way that prompts the autochthonous societies to generate a set of migrant-phobic attitudes. This work further argues that this kind of fear does not really have material sources; it is on the contrary an artificial fear fabricated by the conservative political elite who are likely to use the politics of fear as a form of governmentality to sustain their power. Hence, this work will specifically concentrate on the processes of othering migrant origin individuals as anti-citizens.
Fear of Others: Insecurity, Xenophobia and Europe
European solidarity, along with a wider crisis of collective purpose. To combat such developments it is essential that the European project gives greater attention to issues of social justice and inclusive forms of social solidarity.
Nation and Migration: How Citizens in Europe Are Coping with Xenophobia
2021
Nation and Migration provides a way to understand recent migration events in Europe that have attracted the world’s attention. The emergence of the nations in the West promised homogenization, but instead the imagined national communities have everywhere become places of heterogeneity, and modern nation states have been haunted by the specter of minorities. This study analyses experiences relating to migration in twenty-three European countries. It is based on data from the International Social Survey Programme, a global cross-national collaborative exercise. In the authors’ view, a critical test for Europe is its ability to find adequate responses to the challenges of globalization. The book provides a detailed overview of how citizens in Europe are coping with a xenophobia fueled by their own sense of insecurity. The authors reconstruct the competing social reactions to migration in the forms of integration, assimilation, and segregation. Hungary receives special attention: the d...
European Refugee and Migration Crisis: The Rise of Xenophobia in the Region
Due to the ongoing Refugee and Migration Crisis in the European region, Xenophobia is also on the rise as Europeans get inflicted of the " fear of the unknown". Misconceptions, stereotyping and such are the basic concepts of the fear of strangers or anything that is foreign. This paper will tackle why Europeans are getting afraid of outsiders, as well as the effects of the growing xenophobia in the continent, its people, the refugees and migrants, and lastly how does the European Union take the issue.
In the past few years thousands of immigrants from Africa and the Middle East fleeing civil wars or in search of a better life had adventured to the EU. This has lead to the fortification of the communities‟ external borders and growing antipathy, and thus to the portrayal of immigrants as criminals or social enemies. In the articulation of this perception about immigrants two elements have played a major role, such as the existence of a distinguished common European identity and that of fear. In the construction of the European identity the image of the other has an important role, as the people residing inside the confined borders of the Union perceive themselves as Europeans as a consequence of the contrast with the non-European (non EU) realities. The existence of immigrants, depicted as the others has contributed to the delineation of a European, and consequently to a common “EU” identity. The German philosopher Friedrich Hegel also links the process of the identity formation to the self/other dichotomy, affirming that by recognizing the other the self has the ability to “to give or withhold recognition, so as to be constituted as self at the same time.” In this research our intention is to unfold the role of the irregular immigrant classified as the „other‟ in the construction of a distinguished European identity, translated through social delineation and security centered provisions, in the prism of current migratory events at the Mediterranean sea and Western-Balkans route. In order to understand the phenomenon of securitization of migration and the negative construct of immigrants in the EU we shall apply the constructivist paradigm, embracing the assumption according to which both identity and threats are social constructs, constantly changing depending on the circumstances and personal preferences or interests.
Navigating through the politics of fear - a case study of Europe's migrant crisis
Perceived as a stable and free continent with good economic prospects, Europe has always appealed to people around the world. However, since 2015, the number of people entering Europe has grown rapidly. What is different now, as compared to past migration phases, is that these people are not economic migrants, but asylum-seekers seeking refuge. This situation owes its roots to the instability from conflict-ridden countries in North Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia, and the Balkan region. Between 2015 and 2016, over 2 million people have requested asylum within the European Union (EU), contributing to Europe’s biggest migrant crisis since World War 2. The influx of migrants is a transboundary crisis: frontline states such as Italy and Greece; transit states like the Balkans, Central and Eastern European countries; and destination states such as Germany and Sweden have all been affected. The scale of this crisis has brought about a raft of problems for the continent, leading to an increasing number of European countries sealing off their borders to stem the migrant flow. Now, only Germany holds the distinction of being the only EU state practicing an open border policy for migrants, upholding this stance despite relentless criticism from other EU nations, German politicians, and the German people. This paper shall examine the empirical puzzle: Why has Germany continued to open its borders, despite the growing trend of insularity in Europe?
Deployed fears and suspended solidarity along the migratory route in Europe
CITIZENSHIP STUDIES 24 : 4 pp. 441-456. , 15 p. , 2020
The aim of the paper is to understand the reasons for the spread of fear, the suspension of solidarity, and the securitizing national and local context along the European migratory route. A settlement that at the Hungarian side of the Serbian-Hungarian border, heavily affected by international migration in 2015, is the focus of inquiry. The mayor of the village is a major figure in the Hungarian far-right who mobilized not only the political scene but also various segments of the media to create and legitimize a discourse involving threatened villagers (and more generally, threatened Hungarians and Europeans) and a migrant menace (perceived as non-European, non-white, and non-human). Based on an ethnographic inquiry, the paper reveals the variety of discourses and attitudes which emerged as immediate reactions to people on the move appearing in large numbers in the village. These initial reactions included empathy and a willingness to help which rapidly disappeared. The paper analyses how welcoming acts and voices were silenced and eliminated, and a hegemony of fear was constructed. It contributes to the special issue by showing how fragile solidarity with refugees can be, and how its elimination can occur if social precarity and far-right politics are combined.
Festung Europa: Securitization of Migration and Radicalization of European Societies
Festung Europa: Securitization of Migration and Radicalization of European Societies , 2016
Europe is undoubtedly changing into Festung Europa – Fortress Europe. While its external boundaries are daily traversed by hundreds of migrants and refugees, its heretofore invisible internal borders have begun to sprout barbed wires, barriers and armed patrols. This paper analyzes the problem of migration and the ongoing European migration crisis through the lens of societal insecurity, arguing that the trend toward radicalization of European societies and electoral politics is one the most volatile ramifications of securitizing migration. The European migration crisis has led to a societal security dilemma resulting in a growing chasm between the political elites in member states of the European Union and their societies. The radicalization of those societies is visible in the rising popularity of anti-establishment (populist) parties, the push for direct democracy (demonstrations, manifestations, referenda), and the attractiveness of vigilante groups. Where the state responds to this trend, culture becomes a security policy and “immiskepticism” is the default approach. If it does not respond, society either looks for new political representatives or takes matters into its own hands, sometimes resorting to violence. While the former trend is more visible in the Eastern part of the European Union, the latter is more typical of its Western part.
Politics of Fear: Migration, Control and National Imaginations
Outline § Issues of migration, racism and migration control § Controlling migration central to the history of the West § One important point of reference is the establishment of nation-states § Mobilizing fear as political strategy § Within the field of migration policy § The issue of 'war on terror' Magnus Dahlstedt -Politics of fear 2 MIGRATION CONTROL Magnus Dahlstedt -Politics of fear 3 The mobility paradox § The point of departure of today's lecture: § The project of European integration welcomes the 'borderless world' § Yet more walls and control systems than ever before are being built under the banner of the 'free market' and 'free mobility' § Necessary to analyse the relations between politics and fear, racism and control Magnus Dahlstedt -Politics of fear 4 Controlling migration § Control over flows have had a crucial function in capitalist economies § Flows of capital, commodities, services and people § International migration has been a central factor in the growth of capitalism § The State is not the only organ involved in the on-going business of controlling space and regulating mobility § Para-state organs, security firms, NGOs and individual civilians Magnus Dahlstedt -Politics of fear 5
Journal of Education Culture and Society, 2021
Aim. The goal of the paper is to analyse the constantly growing scale of migration and its impact on the European political and social sphere; to show the concern of European politicians and society about the newcomers, which leads to social hostility and unpredictable situations. There is a concern that migrants, being representatives of different cultural environments and religions, will bring social disharmony, raise the crime rate and terrorism in Europe and cause a certain threats to European society. Methods. The basis of the paper are the following research methods – statistical, descriptive and analytical, which represent certain sources: the study courses and books, scientific papers, empirical materials, published on official websites and documents in the field of migration and its policy. Results and conclusion. Modern migration is complicated by the strong emotional reaction and hostile attitude of European society, which has a direct negative impact on the European poli...