Role of discourses in framing migration
Lenka Kissová CZS55 10 October 2018

Content
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Discourses “migration crisis” in the Slovak political discourse

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How do you understand discourse?

Importance of discourses
Discourse formulates the ways we look at things, we describe them, what meanings we ascribe them and thus how we act. (Levitas 2005) • we (re)produce mental representations and meanings through discourses • it offers us a certain perspective how we look at things • it offers particular ways how we produce knowledge about things • it influences the way we act → (re)production of mental models (and influencing the behaviour = integral part of discourses (political, media)

Importance of discourses II
Social exclusion/inclusion anchored in discourses (Levitas 2005) → different discourses will frame and tackle inclusion/ exclusion/ solidarity and related problems differently They will differ in:
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Who defines the insiders/outsiders How they characterise/define boundaries (what is the crucial feature of the boundary) How is it possible to support inclusion How they represent relation between inclusion/exclusion and inequality

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‘In a political environment the advocates of reform need to employ strategies to overcome the scepticism of others and persuade them of the importance of reform. In other words, they must create a frame that changes the collective understanding of the welfare state, because doing so ‘shapes the path’ necessary to enact reform’ (Cox, 2001: 475 in Béland 2007)

Increasing numbers of immigrants
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http://popstats.unhcr.org/en/overview http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/File:Asylum_applicati ons_(non-EU)_in_the_EU-28_Member_States,_2006%E2%80%932016_(thousands)_YB17.png http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/File:Number_of_(non-E U)_asylum_seekers_in_the_EU_and_EFTA_Member_States,_2015_and_2016_(thousands_of_f irst_time_applicants)_YB17.png https://www.minv.sk/?statistiky-20

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Why does it matter?
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Nation-building
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dilemma of nation building - what kind of groups can be included so that we will still remain one nation? civil vs. primordial definition of a state (France, Canada vs. Central Europe) jus sanguinis vs. jus soli who can be a member of a particular society? citizenship as a key precondition of social inclusion → important in the understanding of political discourses and attitudes towards “the others”

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The Slovak context
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Legislation focusing on immigration (entry, conditions, permits) No integration policy until 2014 More restrictive conditions for naturalisation Institutional settings – primacy of control & regulation

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→ significant asymmetry between control & integration

In 2015 and 2016...
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… the Slovak government adopted the Anti-terrorist measures (in fast-track action) … SMER-SD (governing party) leads the election campaign under the banner “We protect Slovakia” … the Slovak government increased budget on police and on technological control of external border … the Slovak Prime Minister openly accused Muslim immigrants of terrorism, raping the Slovak women and changing the character of the country
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http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/islam-has-no-place-in-this-country-says-slova kian-prime-minister-weeks-before-it-takes-over-eu-a7052506.html http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-35718831

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… the Slovak Prime Minister claimed necessity to control all Muslims living in Slovakia

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… the European Commission adopted the decision to relocate 120,000 people

Political discourse on “quota”, migrants and values
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Two dichotomies around which solidarity is discursively constructed:
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Economic immigrant vs. political refugee (pre-quota period) Christian vs. non-Christian (Muslim) refugee (post-quota period) → different representations invoked in political argumentation

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Missing the perspective of fundamental human rights (the case of Christian refugees in the only exception)

Some conclusions
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Social exclusion/ inclusion anchored in discourses Us & them and positive self- & negative other-representation strategies generates particular meanings ascribed to certain groups and invokes, or simply strengthens, existing primordial boundaries religion as a mobilizing tool one of the layers of the framing of immigrants and refugees is the preservation of Slovak national identity, equated primarily with Christianity (→ Its political representatives refer to Slovakia as a Christian-Catholic nation, thus seeking to affirm Christianity as an essential Slovak value) invoking nationalism through religious claims in Central and Eastern Europe (=response to wider political, economic, and cultural developments) Such claims legitimate restrictive policies, increase of military/police budgets, exclusionary attitudes, exclusion of particular groups from solidarity

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Bibliography
Béland, Daniel. 2007. “The Social Exclusion Discourse: Ideas and Policy Change.” Policy & Politics 35 (1):123-139. Levitas, Ruth. 2005. “Three Discourses of Social Exclusion.” Pp. 7-28 in The Inclusive Society? Social Exclusion and New Labour. Second Edition. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.