Europe’s Migration Crisis: An American Perspective

2016 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 307-319 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip L. Martin
Keyword(s):  
Asylum Seekers ◽  
American Perspective ◽  
The Us ◽  
Angela Merkel ◽  
Migration Crisis

The European Union’s 28 member nations received over 1.2 million asylum seekers in 2015, including 1.1 million in Germany[1] and over 150,000 in Sweden. The US, by comparison, has been receiving 75,000 asylum applications a year. One reason for the upsurge in asylum applicants is that German Chancellor Angela Merkel in August 2015 announced that Syrians could apply for asylum in Germany even if they passed through safe countries en route. The challenges of integrating asylum seekers are becoming clearer, prompting talk of reducing the influx, reforming EU institutions, and integrating migrants.[1] Some 1.1 million foreigners were registered in Germany’s EASY system in 2015, but only 476,500 were able to complete asylum applications because of backlogs in asylum offices.

scholarly journals Asylum Migration to the Developed World: Persecution, Incentives, and Policy

2020 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 75-93 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy J. Hatton
Keyword(s):  
Public Opinion ◽  
Central America ◽  
Asylum Seekers ◽  
Refugee Status ◽  
International Policy ◽  
Policy Regime ◽  
The Us ◽  
Migration Crisis ◽  
Developed World ◽  
European Migration

The European migration crisis of 2015–2016 and the migrants from Central America gathering on the US border since 2017 have created headlines and presented challenges for Western governments. In this paper, I examine the trends in, and determinants of, the number of asylum seekers applying for refugee status in the developed world. This must be understood against the background of an international policy regime that evolved in response to refugee crises and geopolitical imperatives. While policy has drawn a sharp distinction between refugees and other immigrants, that difference has become increasingly blurred among asylum migrants. In this light, I examine the interplay between migration pressures, public opinion, and asylum policies in recent decades.

scholarly journals A Planetary Via Crucis Migration and Translation in the Work of Emily Jacir and Valeria Luiselli

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simona Bertacco
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Asylum Seekers ◽  
Art Installation ◽  
Works Of Art ◽  
The Us ◽  
Mexico Border ◽  
Migration Crisis ◽  
And Migration ◽  
Us Mexico Border ◽  
The Way

This essay explores the nexus between translation and migration via two works of art that deal explicitly with the “migration crisis” in Europe and North America. Via Crucis is an art installation by Emily Jacir (2016) in the Chiesa di San Raffaele in Milan, while Tell Me How It Ends: An Essay in Forty Questions by Valeria Luiselli (2017) records the author’s reflections on the screening sessions of child asylum seekers after they have crossed the US-Mexico border. In both texts, translation is central to how the stories of migration are told and, this essay argues, it should be central also to the way in which they are read and received.

Deportations and development: Responding to El Salvador’s new migration crisis

2020 ◽  
pp. 026909422098105
Author(s):  
Nik Theodore
Keyword(s):  
El Salvador ◽  
Workforce Development ◽  
The United States ◽  
Development Programs ◽  
Alternative Approach ◽  
The Us ◽  
Housing Shortages ◽  
Migration Crisis ◽  
Us Cities ◽  
Economic Development Strategies

For decades El Salvador has been reliant on migration, mainly to the US, to provide remittances and an outlet for widespread underemployment. The deportation of tens of thousands of migrants annually by the United States, however, threatens to exacerbate problems of joblessness, poverty, and informality in local economies, calling into question the suitability of prevailing economic development strategies. This study proposes an alternative approach—labor force-based development—that was initially proposed to assist US cities confronting widespread job losses following deindustrialization. Through a survey of 198 Salvadorans who were apprehended by US immigration authorities and deported, this article documents deportees’ employment experiences in El Salvador and the US, tenure in their primary occupation, education and training obtained, and the localities to which they will return. It also provides recommendations for improving the employment outcomes of deportees. Given that a substantial proportion of deportees have worked in the construction industry, opportunities exist for designing workforce development programs that meet the needs of jobseekers as well as local communities facing housing shortages.

“What’s on the earth is in the stars; and what’s in the stars is on the earth”: Lakota Relationships with the Stars and American Relationships with the Apocalypse

2021 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 137-156
Author(s):  
Suzanne Kite
Keyword(s):  
American Indians ◽  
The United States ◽  
United States Government ◽  
Conspiracy Theories ◽  
American Perspective ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Oglala Lakota ◽  
The Us ◽  
American Mythology ◽  
Boston Tea Party

How is colonialism connected to American relationships with extraterrestrial beings? This commentary analyzes contemporary and founding US mythologies as constant, calculated attempts for settlers to obtain indigeneity in this land stemming from a fear of the “unknown.” From Columbus’s arrival to the Boston Tea Party, from alien and UFO fervor to paranormal experiences, spiritualism, New Age, and American Wicca, American mythology endlessly recreates conspiracy theories to justify its insatiable desire for resource extraction. I examine the US American mythology of extraterrestrials from two directions: the Oglala Lakota perspective of spirits born through a constellation of stars, and the “American” perspective of extraterrestrials born out of settler futurities. Manifest Destiny goes so far as to take ownership over time and reconfigure it into a linear, one-way street that is a progression towards apocalypse. For American Indians and other peoples targeted by the United States government, conspiracy theories prove true. Those who are targeted, Native and otherwise, understand as the violence of American mythology pours across the continent—abduction and assimilation, or death. How can Indigenous nonhuman ontologies orient settler ethics for the future?

Germany's relations with the United States and China from a strategic triangle perspective

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sebastian Biba
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
European Union ◽  
The United States ◽  
Great Power ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Bilateral Relations ◽  
Puzzle Piece ◽  
The Us ◽  
The World ◽  
Angela Merkel

Abstract As the Sino-American Great Power competition continues to intensify, newly-elected US President Joe Biden's administration now seeks to enlist the support of its allies and partners around the world. As Europe's largest economy and a, if not the, leading voice within the European Union, Germany represents an important puzzle-piece for Biden. But Germany, at least under outgoing chancellor Angela Merkel, has been reluctant to take sides. It is against this backdrop that this article looks into Germany's past and present trilateral relationships with the US and China through the theoretical lens of the so-called strategic triangle approach. Applying this approach, the article seeks to trace and explain German behaviour, as well as to elucidate the opportunities and pitfalls that have come with it. The article demonstrates that Germany's recently gained position as a ‘pivot’ (two positive bilateral relationships) between the US and Chinese ‘wings’ (positive bilateral relations with Germany and negative bilateral relations with each other) is desirable from the perspective of the strategic triangle. At the same time, being pivot is also challenging and hard to maintain. Alternative options, such as entering a US–German ‘marriage’ directed against China, are also problematic. The article therefore concludes that Germany has tough decisions to take going forward.

A Line in the Sea

Race & Class ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 44 (2) ◽  
pp. 23-39 ◽  
Author(s):  
Suvendrini Perera
Keyword(s):  
Asylum Seekers ◽  
Prime Minister ◽  
September 11 ◽  
Container Ship ◽  
Royal Navy ◽  
Indonesian Archipelago ◽  
The Us ◽  
The Face ◽  
September 11 Attacks ◽  
The Government

In the week before the attacks in the US 'changed the worldforever', a Norwegian container ship, the MV Tampa, rescued almost four hundred asylum seekers from asinking boat off the Indonesian archipelago. The captain sailed towards Australia, but was refused permission to land by a government declaring that this nation would 'not be held hostage by our own decency'. In the face of UN and international disapproval, the Tampa was boarded by armed troops and forcibly moved out of Australian waters. During the following week, capitalising on widespread general hostility towards Afghanistan and Islam in the wake of the September 11 attacks, the Australian parliament rushed through legislation implementing unprecedented measures to keep out asylum seekers. The Australian government's actions chillingly foreshadowed a wider western reaction. In May 2002, Britain's prime minister Blair proposed a series of initiatives strikingly similar to those adopted by Australia, including the use of the Royal Navy to intercept and turn back asylum seekers and the internment of refugees off-shore on large ships leased by the government. The story of the Tampa, then, is part of an unfolding global story.

scholarly journals The Coverage of the Policy of the German Chancellor in the Conditions of the Migration Crisis of 2013-2018 in the Materials of the Magazine "Der Spiegel"

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 497-511
Author(s):  
Galina Voronenkova ◽  
Julia Islanova
Keyword(s):  
Readiness To Change ◽  
Middle Eastern ◽  
Migration Policy ◽  
The Political ◽  
Illegal Migration ◽  
Migration Stream ◽  
Illegal Migrants ◽  
Angela Merkel ◽  
Dublin Regulation ◽  
Migration Crisis

Starting from 2013, the authors of “Der Spiegel” have been actively criticizing the policy of the Chancellor Merkel for inaction in the conditions of an increasing number of migrants from Middle Eastern countries. At the same time, the main opponents of the Chancellor were also criticized for their trying to pull away from the increasing migration problem and to absolve themselves of responsibility for migrants rushing deep into Europe, recalling the terms of the Dublin Regulation. The situation changed in 2015 when Angela Merkel not only recognized the ongoing crisis, but opened the borders of Germany for hundreds of thousands of illegal migrants. Unlike Merkel`s political opponents and even many party fellows, “Der Spiegel” supported the Chancellor for her readiness to jeopardize her political career to save European humanistic values. However, it soon became obvious that the Chancellor`s magnanimity wasn`t based on a precise plan for integration. Despite the authors of “Der Spiegel” who like Merkel considered Germany to be the heart of human and hospitable Europe, the center of tolerance, they had to admit that the uncontrolled stream of refugees turned to be a serious threat for the economy, social peace and national security. In 2017, it became obvious that Merkel changed the direction of her migration policy for a more pragmatic one aimed to control the illegal migration, to limit the migration stream from Middle Eastern countries, to develop the system of revealing and deporting illegal migrants. “Der Spiegel” regarded this as her readiness to change her own position according to the political circumstances in favor of the political rating. This led to disappointment and a new wave of criticism.

scholarly journals Fear of Terrorism and Attitudes Toward Refugees: An Empirical Test of Group Threat Theory

2020 ◽  
pp. 001112872098189
Author(s):  
David De Coninck
Keyword(s):  
Asylum Seekers ◽  
Empirical Test ◽  
Multilevel Modelling ◽  
Economic Conditions ◽  
Positive Attitudes ◽  
Migration Crisis ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Refugees And Asylum Seekers ◽  
Municipal Level ◽  
Threat Theory

In recent years, the co-occurrence of the migration crisis and terrorist attacks in European cities have created a strong link between refugees and asylum seekers and terrorism in the minds of many Europeans. This study investigates how attitudes toward refugees are associated with fear of terrorism. Using multilevel modelling on 1,500 Belgian citizens nested in 402 municipalities, results indicate that positive attitudes toward refugees are associated with lower terrorism fear. Adverse economic conditions at both the individual and municipal level are associated with greater fear of terrorism, while a large outgroup size is associated with lower fear of terrorism. Women hold greater fear than men, while commercial news consumption is associated with greater terrorism fears.

Free Cross-Border Movement, Lucifer’s Effect and National Security of the Visegrad Countries

2019 ◽  
Vol 32 (32) ◽  
pp. 37-63
Author(s):  
Petr Rožňák
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Eu Member States ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Mass Migration ◽  
Angela Merkel ◽  
Migration Crisis ◽  
Asian People ◽  
Political Persecution ◽  
Visegrád Countries

Since 2015, the migration crisis continues with varying intensity, and international security crisis as well as debt, institutional, and personnel crises are worsening, not only in the Eurozone. Probably war, economic and climate immigrants will continue to move into the Schengen area, showing how helpless the European Union is. Angela Merkel said there was no upper limit for the number of people admitted to escape political persecution. Germany leaves the Dublin system inconsistently, runs counter to European cohesion and stops differentiating between immigrants and refugees. Migration is shared by the EU Member States. Between “old” and “new” EU countries, scissors are opened. Moreover, in some European regions (France, Belgium, Germany, Sweden, the United Kingdom, Spain, Greece) there are closed communities where majority law is not valid. Our current socio-political and economic existence is based on a traditional understanding of security. However, in the third decade of the 21st century the image of prosperity and security is to be seen from a different perspective than in previous years. Dramatic development has led to the mass migration of African and Asian people and to the division of the European Union, especially regarding the mechanism of redistribution of asylum seekers.

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