30/11/2022 – UNU-MERIT/MACIMIDE Seminar on the Politicisation of migration and its impacts on European integration
On Wednesday, 30 November, we will have the second Migration Seminar for the month November, convened by UNU-MERIT & MACIMIDE (Maastricht University). Our speaker is Dr Sevgi Temizisler, who is an Associate Researcher at the Brussels School of Governance, the Centre for Digitalisation, Democracy, and Innovation (CD2I) at Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) in Belgium. In the presentation, entitled Politicisation of migration and its impacts on European integration, Dr Temizisler will present the outcomes of her doctoral thesis, which investigated how migration issues were politicised during the ‘refugee crisis’ in different countries and the implications for European integration.
Abstract
Spurred by civil war in Iraq, Libya, Syria, and by instability in several African countries, more than 1.8 million migrants/refugees arrived in the EU in 2015. This pressure from migrants and refugees led to a humanitarian crisis on a global scale while threatening the key instruments of border controls in the EU and increasing the uncertainty about its political, economic, and societal implications for member states. In this atmosphere, the crisis was highly in domestic politics owing to the heightened salience in media coverage, mobilisation of citizens holding exclusive nationalist identities, and exacerbated polarisation in public debates. The interplay among mass media, political parties, and governments had a major role in reflecting and strengthening the fears about immigration and shaping the public opinion on migrants and refugees. In this guest lecture, I explain how migration issues were politicised during the ‘refugee crisis’ in different countries and the implications thereof. The importance and originality of this study are that it comparatively explores the politicization of migration issues in three countries (the UK, Denmark and Germany) and offers some crucial insights into the connection between Euroscepticism and anti-immigrant attitudes, since the case selection is representative of the different attitudes towards the EU. Additionally, most studies in migration politics have tended to conflate and analyse asylum and migration topics into one category, although the two issues have different meanings and the people concerned –asylum-seekers/refugees and migrants – have different legal statuses. Little is known about the various trends in migration and asylum issues in media discourse. This study fills this gap, analysing these issues individually and addressing the differences between migrants and asylum-seekers/refugees.
Practicalities:
When? 30 November 2022, 15.00-16.00 CET
Where? Online (Zoom), click here
For more information click here.
Please note that this seminar will be recorded. You can find the previous Migration Seminars at UNU-MERIT’s Youtube Channel.