Role of discourses in framing migration Lenka Kissová CZS55 9 October 2019 Content • Discourses “Migration crisis” in the Slovak political discourse Discourse in your home countires • • ● Why do you think I assigned you to read about that particular topics? 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 on how we look at things • it offers particular ways on 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 When we talk about migration, inevitably, we will come across topics of INCLUSION or EXCLUSION Social exclusion/inclusion anchored in discourses (Levitas 2005) → different discourses will frame and tackle inclusion/ exclusion/ solidarity and related problems differently It is important to realise:  Who has access to discourses – resources; economic, social and cultural capital → power (symbolic & substantial) Who defines the insiders/outsiders How they characterise/define boundaries (what is the crucial feature of the boundary) How they represent relation between inclusion/exclusion and inequality (who is the one “ to blame”?)    Media discourse and construction of reality ● signifying power of media: power to influence knowledge, beliefs, values, social identities, social relations media discourse is necessarily selective – ● on the side of production: limited range of media formats and products, limited sources on the side of reception: selective exposure, selective perception, and selective retention – ● ● such selection helps to organize social reality into meaningful blocks and patterns (Berger – Luckmann: semantic fields) on the other hand, these same selection simplify social reality (stereotypes, prejudices, labels) Media agenda setting ● ● media discourse could be crucial when reporting affairs or events of which their recipient has no or only little experience „migration crisis“ in Czech Republic media agenda political agenda public agenda ● ● ● Theory of securitisation ● security problem – a situation, in which an event, a course of action or an actor is evaluated as a threat to the particular object of reference (person, nation, value system etc.) and thus requires safety measures to be taken in order to ensure the safety of the object of reference. constructivist approach to security – an issue becomes a security threat not because it essentially is one, but because it is presented and perceived as such (Buzan, Weaver, de Wilde 1998: 24; Balzacq 2011:1). While security is an outcome of the process in which “(…) issue is presented as posing an existential threat to a designed referent object”, securitization is a process in which the existential threat is designed, so extraordinary means can be legitimized (Buzan, Weaver, de Wilde 1998: 25). “Action outside normal political measures” (Buzan, Weaver, de Wilde 1998: 23-24). Security sectors: Political, Military, Societal, Environmental, Economic ● ● ● ● Migration in Czech Republic ● ● In 2015 only 134 citizens of Syria, 38 citizens of Iraq and a few people from Afghanistan applied for asylum in the Czech Republic. Not-authorized stay in CR: Syria (2 016), Afghanistan (585), Iraq (404), all (8563) 20000 15000 10000 5000 0 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 non-authorized migration in ČR Report on migration and integration of foreigners, Ministry of Interior (2015) Czech public on refugees as a threat The actuality of a threat - refugees 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 2006 2007 2008 2009 serious threat 2010 2011 2012 not a threat 2013 2014 2015 2016 small threat Czech public on refugees as a threat Actual threats for the Czech Republic refugees terrorism 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% serious threat small threat no threat don't know Exercise 1 • What events are presented? • How are events represented? Is value of security relevant in here? How – security of whom is emphasized? At expense of who? • What seems to be important in the picture? • Who seems to be important? • How are migrants presented? • What might be the relationship between the actors in picture? Exercise 2 ● What is the source(s) of information? What topic(s) is it covering? Who are the actors in the story? How they are presented, described? What attributes are associated with them/ascribed to them? How are the relationships between actors in the story characterised, presented? What about pictures? Who is in it? Does it match the story? What should the picture say? ● ● ● ● ● Increasing numbers of immigrants ● 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 ● ● ● The Slovak context ● Legislation focusing on immigration (entry, conditions, permits) No integration policy until 2014 More restrictive conditions for naturalisation Institutional settings – primacy of control & regulation ● ● ● → significant asymmetry between control & integration In 2015 and 2016... ● … 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 – ● ● ● 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 – ● … the Slovak Prime Minister claimed necessity to control all Muslims living in Slovakia ● … the European Commission adopted the decision to relocate 120,000 people Political discourse on “quota”, migrants and values ● Two dichotomies around which solidarity is discursively constructed: – – Economic immigrant vs. political refugee (pre-quota period) Christian vs. non-Christian (Muslim) refugee (post-quota period) → different representations invoked in political argumentation ● Missing the perspective of fundamental human rights (the case of Christian refugees in the only exception) ● https://www.euractiv.com/section/justice-home-affairs/news/hungarian-offici al-admits-campaign-to-generate-hate-against-migrants/ http://hungarianspectrum.org/2015/12/18/hungarians-fear-of-migrants-andterrorism/ ● ● Some conclusions ● 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 ● ● ● ● ● 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.