Abstract
With regard to mobilization in the field of migration and refugees, Austria is characterized by a strict migration regime on the one hand, and the performance of a rather moderate protest culture and low civic engagement in politics (besides electoral politics) on the other. Increasingly restrictive asylum policies date back to the 1990s, in conjunction with Austria’s altered understanding of itself as a country of destination instead of only being a country of transit. Although the idea of a merely temporary stay for migrants is deeply inscribed in the Austrian migration system, individual possibilities for gaining the right to stay have emerged for asylum seekers who have already received a negative decision. Simultaneously, the policy fields of migration and asylum have become polarized and politicized with negative overtones, especially by the Austrian Freedom Party–with a majority of the Austrian population supporting stricter immigration policies. All these aspects in the area of asylum and deportation as well as the general political culture in Austria represent institutional and discursive opportunity structures for protest, both for and against asylum seekers. Asylum protests can either occur in support of or in opposition to asylum seekers and concern the deportation, right to stay, and reception of asylum seekers. These three fields–deportation, reception, and stay–are linked to each other in the asylum process but have not been jointly examined to date. This chapter explores this constellation, thereby providing a picture of the contextual framework of protest both for and against asylum seekers in Austria.
Highlights
Austria, like Germany and Switzerland, follows an exclusive model of citizenship regime, which makes it harder for immigrants to gain naturalization or political membership than, for example, in France or the United States (Koopmans et al 2005, 9)
Against the backdrop of Austria’s transformation from a country of transit to a country of destination, we examine what factors have led to more restrictive asylum regulations since the 1990s and what options have been open to asylum seekers for staying in the country
The aforementioned paradigm shift in asylum politics at the beginning of the 1990s resulted in a new understanding of Austria as a country of destination, which motivated political parties and the media to take up the issues of immigration and asylum (Peyrl et al 2017, 259)
Summary
Like Germany and Switzerland, follows an exclusive model of citizenship regime, which makes it harder for immigrants to gain naturalization or political membership than, for example, in France or the United States (Koopmans et al 2005, 9) This partly results from the jus sanguinis approach compared to the jus soli acquisition of republican or pluralist countries (ibid.). We will elaborate further on the developments and interactions of politics and policies; for we want to highlight the topic’s relevance in recent decades (which only reached its peak with the so-called long summer of migration in 2015 and its aftermath) During this period, protests have emerged, underlining Koopmans et al.’s (2005, 3; emphasis in original) observation that: Combined, these three types of political mobilization around issues of immigration and ethnic relations–by migrants, against migrants, and on behalf of migrants–constitute since the early 1990s the most prominent and controversial fields of political contention in West European polities. We conclude with an overview of protest culture and protest mobilization in Austria
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