Integration Policies and Public Perceptions of Immigrants in Europe

National mechanisms of migrant integration into the host society and the wider social context in which migration occurs may affect the construction of public attitudes towards migrants regardless of their origin or status. By combining the data of two international studies: the Migrant Integration Policy Index (MIPEX) and the European Social Survey (ESS), this paper examines national policies regarding migrant integration and the public perception of migrants in the host society in selected European countries. This analysis highlights especially the shifts in public attitudes as possible consequences of the 2015/2016 European “migration crisis”. The data from 27 European countries that participated in the last waves of both MIPEX2020 and ESS2018 were analysed according to the four-dimensional MIPEX categorisation: 1) Comprehensive integration, 2) Equality on paper, 3) Temporary integration, and 4) Immigration without integration (Integration denied). These categories of states’ migration policies were then combined with the public perceptions of immigrants examined by the ESS. Multilevel regression models demonstrated that the respondents from countries with well-developed integration policies express a more positive attitude towards immigrants and acknowledge their contribution to all areas of the host society. A higher proportion of non-EU-27 immigrants in the country correlates with a more negative perception of immigrants’ impact on the host country. Even though the MIPEX score does not reflect clearly the shift in migration policies affected by the European “migration crisis”, it could be considered a stable, though relatively weak predictor of anti-immigrant prejudice. In conclusion, this study's findings suggest that better-developed policies of political participation and immigrant inclusion foster more positive attitudes towards immigrants.

Reflections of EU Migration and Refugee Crisis in Slovak Foreign and Security Policy

At the end of 2014, the numbers of irregular migrants and asylum seekers in the European Union began to sharply increase. This so-called European migration and refugee crisis culminated in 2015, but did not affect all EU Member States to the same extent. The aim of the paper is to evaluate the impacts of “the crisis” in the Slovak Republic. In addition to the recent developments in the area of irregular immigration and numbers of asylum applications, we focus on broader social, political and foreign policy implications. The research is primarily based on the analysis of the official statistics. We compare pre-crisis data, data in the period considered as “the crisis", and the current situation. The Slovak territory had not been influenced significantly by immigration flows during the European migration and refugee crisis. Nevertheless, migration flows became an important topic also in Slovakia: developments within the EU territory raised awareness on the topic among political representatives as well as among the Slovak public. The importance of migratory flows is growing. It reflects the increase in the volume of migratory flows but also how international migration is perceived and interpreted in society.

Limits at the Limes. Diffracted Sovereignty inside the Border Zones

This paper questions state sovereignty at borders, by referencing the contradictions that a border control approach based upon security concerns creates, and the distortions between societies of norms and situations of exception that the European migration and asylum policies generate. Meanwhile, whilst sovereignty should correspond in a legal theory perspective to authority, its expressions manifested in the European borders consists essentially in domination as bare violence is deployed. By investigating the hiatus between how sovereignty ought to be in theory and how it is observed in practice, it is possible to consider that the very sovereignty is diffracted in the thickness of the frontiers (i). This paper explores the methods states develop directly or indirectly in the borders, inside the border zones, basing the analysis on the notion of heterotopia Michel Foucault forged. Such a conceptual tool is deployed in order to underscore how states construct and exploit frontiers as useful margins and establish them as dissolution zones. Three methods – extraction, classification and obliteration – are highlighted that correspond to the main purposes of border surveillance – control, selection and removal – (ii).

Detention and alternatives to detention in international protection and return procedures in Ireland

Related Press Release Detention and alternatives to detention can be used for immigration-related purposes in Ireland. Detention takes place in Garda Síochána stations and prisons. Throughout 2019, 477 people were detained in Irish prisons for immigration-related reasons, reducing to 245 people in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. Alternatives to detention, such as regularly reporting to a Garda station, however, tend to be used more routinely and in the first instance. This study presents a comprehensive review of legislation and practice on detention and alternatives to detention in international protection and return procedures in Ireland. It is based on the Irish contribution to a European Migration Network (EMN) report comparing the situation in EU Member States. Immigration detention in the EU and the UK has been the subject of considerable academic research; however, there has been comparatively less research on the situation in Ireland, particularly regarding alternatives to detention.

Европейское гражданство, итальянская национальность и официальный миф «возвращения»: аргентинцы и чилийцы – потомки итальянских эмигрантов

На основе этнографического исследования в итальянской провинции Трентино автор анализиру-ет, что означает европейское гражданство для аргентинцев и чилийцев итальянского происхож-дения, эмигрирующих в Италию – то есть в Европу – благодаря наличию у них итальянского гражданства, унаследованного от предков. Рассматриваются практики и представления, связан-ные с двойной национальной принадлежностью, а также различные уровни коллективного член-ства, возникающие в эмиграции. Автор демонстрирует, каким образом обладание европейским гражданством способствует возобновлению эмиграции из Италии, в которую оказываются вовле-чены и потомки итальянцев из Латинской Америки. Эта мобильность ведет к пересмотру евро-пейской миграционной политики, смещая ее фокус с закрытия границ на “избирательную имми-грацию”. Таким образом, в статье поднимается вопрос о постоянном переопределении границ между “своими” и “чужими” в Европе. Building on ethnographic research undertaken in the Trentino region, this article analyses what being a Eu-ropean citizen means for Argentineans and Chileans of Italian descent who emigrate to Italy, and thus to Europe, thanks to the Italian nationality they have inherited from their ancestors. It analyses the different uses and representations associated with dual nationality as well as the scales of belonging that accompany this mobility, showing that the possession of European citizenship is fostering the current resurgence of Ital-ian emigration, including from Latin America. The article also argues that this mobility has brought into question European migration policies, shifting the focus from the rhetoric of border closures to practices of selective immigration. It thus questions the constant redefining of boundaries in Europe between “us” and “them”.

A Quest for Passion: Understanding Precarious Migration of Young Highly Qualified EU Citizens as Lived Neoliberal Subjectivity

In critical social research the concept of employability is associated with the neoliberal imperative that every individual should become a self-responsible, self-improving and enterprising subject in the increasingly precarious labour markets. Despite the prominence of employability in policies governing young people’s intra-European migration, few studies examine migrants’ subjectivities in this context. Building on narrative data, this article adds to our understanding on how neoliberal subject formations function as an instrument for governing young EU migrants’ lives in conditions of precarious labour. Central to this understanding, it develops the concept of passion to depict young migrants’ quest for obtaining work with opportunities for self-development and self-realisation. This concept contributes to the study of highly qualified intra-EU migration by allowing critical analysis of meanings given to mobility in relation to work; by highlighting dynamics of (self-)precarisation in this context; and by advancing debates on social-structural inequality among EU migrants pursuing their quest for passion.