Migration crisis in the EU: developing a framework for analysis of national security and defence strategies

João Estevens

doi:10.1186/s40878-018-0093-3

Abstract

This article addresses migration-security nexus in the EU by assessing Member States’ national security and defence strategies as well as the 2016 EUGS in a time of migration crisis, a crisis that stands as one of the most important geopolitical challenges today in the EU. After developing and applying a framework for analysis derived from a literature review, the existing differences among Member States are clear in terms of strategic cultures and approaches to migration issues. The idea of ‘EU’rope without internal borders is at stake as Schengen is under serious attack due to increasing Eurocentrism and growing extreme right-wing populism, which are a consequence of increasing economic protectionism and international terrorism. The solution seems to depend on two critical uncertainties: the evolution of political and social instability in the North Africa and the Middle East, and the future of the EU itself. The results enlighten a securitization of migration mostly centred on the nation-state and national security rather than on people and human security.

Highlights

The twenty-first century is the century of the migrant, being global mobility a highly stratified phenomenon, from the global tourist to the undocumented employee, and from human trafficking to refugees forced to leave their country of origin because of climate changes, poverty or wars (Castles & Miller, 2009)
Recent migration crisis has been difficult to tackle, and its future seems to depend on two critical uncertainties: the evolution of political and social instability in Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, and the future of the European Union (EU)
Migration and asylum policies within the EU depend on how the EU deals with globalisation and avoids new waves of protectionism among Member States (MS), sidestepping conflicted interests

Summary

Introduction

The twenty-first century is the century of the migrant, being global mobility a highly stratified phenomenon, from the global tourist to the undocumented employee, and from human trafficking to refugees forced to leave their country of origin because of climate changes, poverty or wars (Castles & Miller, 2009). Migration-security nexus Security is built on a set of discourses or narratives and historical practices based on institutionally shared understandings, becoming a political and social construct (Wæver, 1995) During this process, the elites in power, analysts and experts define the existing risks and threats in a certain moment and for different levels (national, regional, global). The securitization of migration tends to include four different axis: socioeconomic, due to unemployment, the rise of informal economy, welfare state crisis, and urban environment deterioration; securitarian, considering the loss of a control narrative that associates sovereignty, borders, and both internal and external security; identitarian, where migrants are considered as being a threat to the host societies’ national identity and demographic equilibrium; and political, as a result of anti-immigrant, racist, and xenophobic discourses There are negative aspects of international migration that can lead to security threats, especially due to insufficient integration of legal migrants that can

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Conclusion