Public Opinion on Migration and the Role of the Media in the Context of the “European Refugee Crisis”

This book presents an overview of European migration policy and the various institutional arrangements within and between various actors, such as local councils, local media, local economies, and local civil society initiatives. Both the role of local authorities in this policy field and their cooperation with civil society initiatives or networks are under-explored topics for research. In response, this book provides a range of detailed case studies focusing on the six main groups of national and administrative traditions in Europe: Germanic, Scandinavian, Napoleonic, Southeastern European, Central-Eastern European and Anglo-Saxon.Peer reviewe

Enhancing Europe’s global power: a scenario exercise with eight proposals

In the present context of intensifying competition between the major trading economies and potentially game-changing technological developments, the European Union is generally seen as the weaker party. Lacking the ‘hard power’ derived from military capabilities, it has laid claim to a ‘soft power’ of normative influence externally, yet even that is only partially utilised. Nor has Europe been able to exercise the power to coerce – ‘sharp power’ – commensurate with its economic weight as a trading bloc equivalent in size and reach to the US or China, its most prominent global competitors. How can Europe strengthen its position, and in what fields? Through a scenario exercise, we develop eight policy proposals aimed at countering Europe´s vulnerabilities and enabling it to assert its sharp and soft power more effectively. Specifically, we consider the feasibility, means and scope for their realisation. Together, they provide a transformative agenda for the EU’s position in the world

The Study of Irregular Migration

AbstractThe study of irregular migration as a specific social phenomenon took off during the 70s in the US. Since then, the academic interest has continually grown and spread, first to Europe and, in the last years, to other regions worldwide. This interest can certainly be related to the increasing attention paid to the study of migrations more in general (Castles & Miller, 1993). The trend can be linked to those broad and complex social and economic changes, often subsumed under the concept of globalization. The specific focus on irregular migration, though gaining momentum throughout the 1980s, reached preeminent attention in the 1990s. On both sides of the Atlantic, the explosion of the so-called "migration crisis" (Zolberg & Benda, 2001) and the emergence of irregular migration as a widespread social fact raised the attention of public opinion and academics alike. Moreover, in recent years, what seemed at first to be an issue concerning only the high-income regions of the planet, now involves also medium and low-income ones, making irregular migration a truly global structural phenomenon (Cvajner & Sciortino, 2010a; Düvell, 2006)

Mobility and Migrations in the Rural Areas of Mediterranean EU Countries

AbstractThis chapter focuses on the ambivalent nature of contemporary migrations in European rural areas. The growing presence of immigrants in these areas is a direct result of the restructuring of agriculture and global agri-food chains. Evidence indicates that while agricultural work and rural settings are decreasingly attractive to local populations, they represent a favourable environment to international newcomers, due to the higher chances to access livelihood resources. The non-visibility and informality that characterise rural settings and agricultural work arrangements provide on the one side opportunities for employment, while also fostering illegal labour practices and situations of harsh exploitation

Irregular Migration Theories

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Secularism: Public Space and Visible Diversity

Today’s secular and pluralistic Western society must go back to the basics of what secularism is or was intended to be. Secularization is a wide-ranging dynamic that has assumed a diversity of institutional forms depending on individual countries and societies, their respective histories, cultures and collective psychologies. Secularism influences how power is distributed at the state level, as well as between and within the public services and the social institutions of a given country or society. Given the emerging Muslim presence in the West, however, secularism has developed an ideological edge, maintaining some features of organized religion while redefining itself and even adding new aspects that can be likened to dogmatism. Thus secularism not longer refers simply to the separation of powers or to established legal frameworks binding on all citizens, but to informal perceptions, and—in some cases—non-verbalized understandings. Seen from the standpoint of these non-codified parameters, Muslim visibility has emerged as a “threat,” as a sign of “non-integration” or of “not-belonging.” But if our pluralistic societies are to achieve a viable secularism, we need to agree objectively on some common denominators, and set aside ideological considerations, subjective perceptions and informal representations or misrepresentations. Open public space, which is the essence of any secular society, requires a normative set of notions and an agreed-upon legal framework to establish rules that do not grant privileges to any specific religion. Its basic principle is to secure the same rights and duties for all of that society’s religious communities. The viability of a public space open to all depends on providing each religion with all necessary means for its practice, and just as importantly, to play a useful and positive role within civil society. A clear legal and institutional framework must protect diversity, including visible diversity with regard, for example, to the presence of churches, synagogues and mosques; or with regard to dress and religious practices. Several factors, ranging from the role of the state, the nation, and public education, as well as to the management of “neutrality” and the exercise of proactivity, will prove essential in the consolidation of a secular and pluralistic society. This paper examines some of the current challenges that societies in the West are facing in relation to the growing informal view of “secularism” and considers the kinds of questions that we should be asking if we are to move forward together in harmony