Global Migration and the Rise of Populism

A special issue of Societies (ISSN 2075-4698).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 March 2022) | Viewed by 30715

Special Issue Editors

Department of Education and Psychology, University of Florence, 50121 Florence, FI, Italy
Interests: intercultural education; comparative pedagogy; social pedagogy; gender anthropology; processes of inclusion/exclusion; equal opportunities; integration of migrants into the education system and into society; the migration of women; immigration and asylum policy; the dynamics of racism; trafficking in human beings; unaccompanied minors
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Department of Public Health Policy, School of Public Health, University of West Attica (UNIWA), 11521 Athens, Greece
Interests: migrant health; labour migration; sociology of migration; precarious employment; low-status work; migrants’ access to healthcare services; social integration/exclusion of migrants; migrant community associations; female migration; irregular migration; immigration and asylum policy; solidarity; political participation; trade unions
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

It is a shared opinion among scholars that the term populism, to which thousands of articles, books, and conferences are dedicated, has controversial theoretical foundations. The remarkable work of Gino Germani, Margaret Canovan, Ernesto Laclau, Chantal Mouffe, and others has offered innovative perspectives and interpretations. However, their rigorous analytical approach is not reflected in political debates nor in the media, which have abandoned critical thinking in favour of following a homogeneous view that presents populism in a Manichean way—the bad populism against the good democratic mainstream—as a threat to democracy and a great risk for the future development of the European Union and global governance—whatever that means. In this black and white approach, the issue of migration—which is, in fact, an extremely complex issue, crossing economics, politics, countries, legal frames, human rights and philosophical questioning—has been exploited by the mainstream, mainly to denounce the exclusionary—or even racist—approach of the “populists” towards immigrants. While any concession to racist thought must be firmly condemned, as well as legally prosecuted with adequate tools, it is no longer scientifically acceptable to reject the question posed by the so-called populist forces around the issue of sovereignty, especially when the mainstream forces in power have not been able to give any concrete—political and human—response to migration, as the existence of the reprehensible parking places for refugees in Greece tragically demonstrates. The same overlap between sovereignty and populism is debatable since, in sovereignism, we recognize forces that are more attributable to the conservative tradition than to populism. During the summer of 2015, the so-called “long summer of migration”, hundreds of thousands of people fleeing war zones, mainly from Syria, took the Balkan route (a land route that passes through Turkey, Greece and the Balkans), giving rise to one of the largest movements of migrants in Europe in recent years—a “migrant/refugee reception crisis” [1,2]. The expansion of far-right and right-populist groups across Europe benefited from anti-migration mobilizations [3]. During the European elections of 2014, one of the main issues raised by the media was the electoral performance of so-called “populist parties” [4,5]. Populism includes the rise of demagogy that promises “power to the people” in post-democracy times [6].

This Special Issue aims to deconstruct the same notion of populism, exploring its link with the notion of sovereignty, and invites papers that make a distinction between right-wing parties, traditional conservatives, republican right, neo-fascist, and the extreme right. For each one of these “sub-groups”, it is important to understand which type of narratives they propose in the frame of sovereignty against globalism, especially concerning new migratory flows. At the same time, we will look at the relationship between so-called left-wing populism and the mainstream “progressive” left regarding the migration narrative. This Special Issue also welcomes papers illustrating various political analyses of the migration issue that come from the traditional right or republican right, defined as populist today. In other words, the issue of migration has to be considered both with respect to the political discourse—framed through demagogical arguments and socioeconomic analysis, looking at the global trends in the re-organisation of global governance—and the transformations of work through technological changes.

References:

  1. Rea, A., Martiniello; M., Mazzola, A.; Meuleman, B. The refugee reception crisis in Europe polarized opinions and mobilizations; Éditions de l’ Université de Bruxelles: Brussels, 2019.
  2. Fouskas, T. (2019). Unravelling solidarity and hostility: Mobilizations concerning migrants, asylum seekers and refugees in anti-migrant times in Greece. In The Refugee Reception Crisis in Europe: Polarized Opinions and Mobilizations; Rea, A., Martiniello, M., Mazzola, A., and Meuleman, B., Eds.; Éditions de l’ Université de Bruxelles: Brussels, 2019, pp. 121–143.
  3. Fielitz, M. The Changing Faces of Neo-Nazism. In Trouble on the Far Right; M. Fielitz and L. Laloire, Eds.; Verlag: Bielefeld, 2016, pp. 195–204.
  4. Lazaridis, G.; Campani, G.; Benveniste, A. The Rise of the Far Right in Europe: Populist Shifts and ‘Othering’. Palgrave: London, 2016.
  5. Lazaridis, G. and Campani, G. Understanding the populist shift: othering in a Europe in crisis; New York Routledge: London, 2017.
  6. Campani, G. and Pajnik, M. Democracy, Post-democracy and the Populist Challenge. In Understanding the Populist Shift: Othering in a Europe in Crisis; G. Lazaridis, G. Campani., Eds; Routledge: London, 2017, pp. 179–196.

Prof. Dr. Giovanna Campani
Dr. Theodoros Fouskas
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • migration
  • populism
  • sovereignty
  • racism
  • solidarity

Published Papers (5 papers)

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17 pages, 551 KiB  
Article
The Populist Divide in Far-Right Political Discourse in Sweden: Anti-Immigration Claims in the Swedish Socially Conservative Online Newspaper Samtiden from 2016 to 2022
by Anders Hellström
Societies 2023, 13(5), 108; https://doi.org/10.3390/soc13050108 - 24 Apr 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1915
Abstract
In this article, I aim to show how populism can be used as an analytical category to make sense of how anti-immigration claims are articulated in far-right political discourse. I will do this by giving examples of and drawing attention to how the [...] Read more.
In this article, I aim to show how populism can be used as an analytical category to make sense of how anti-immigration claims are articulated in far-right political discourse. I will do this by giving examples of and drawing attention to how the anti-immigration claims are articulated via the populist divide, namely anti-elitism and people-centrism, and delve into the issue of which people are mobilised against which elite in articulatory practice. I use narrative analysis to link individual newspaper texts to dominant storylines of the nation (master narratives) in the continuous construction of national identity. The material is based on 169 articles published in the socially conservative online newspaper Samtiden between 2016 and 2022 on national identity. The results from the narrative analysis indicate that far-right populist discourse conveys nostalgia for a golden age and a cohesive and homogenous collective national identity, combining ideals of cultural conformism and socio-economic fairness against the fragmentary political agenda of different elites, spelling out a message that everything was better before. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Global Migration and the Rise of Populism)
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22 pages, 357 KiB  
Article
Racial and Ethnic Inequalities, Health Disparities and Racism in Times of COVID-19 Pandemic Populism in the EU: Unveiling Anti-Migrant Attitudes, Precarious Living Conditions and Barriers to Integration in Greece
by Theodoros Fouskas, George Koulierakis, Fotini-Maria Mine, Athanasios Theofilopoulos, Sofia Konstantopoulou, Fabiola Ortega-de-Mora, Dimitrios Georgiadis and Georgia Pantazi
Societies 2022, 12(6), 189; https://doi.org/10.3390/soc12060189 - 14 Dec 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 4580
Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact particularly on the most vulnerable populations, including immigrants, asylum seekers and refugees in the EU. The article depicts the results of the comparative research project “Local Alliance for Integration (LION/GSRI/University of West Attica/81018): Migrant and [...] Read more.
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact particularly on the most vulnerable populations, including immigrants, asylum seekers and refugees in the EU. The article depicts the results of the comparative research project “Local Alliance for Integration (LION/GSRI/University of West Attica/81018): Migrant and Refugee integration into local societies in times of the COVID-19 pandemic in Spain and Greece” implementing a qualitative methodology. This article analyses via 32 in-depth interviews the experiences of immigrants, asylum seekers and refugees in Greece, the increased barriers towards integration due to racial and ethnic inequalities, precarity and health disparities during this period which function as a means of perpetuating exclusion in five sectors: (a) formal employment, (b) healthcare, (c) formal education and language training, (d) housing and social care/protection, and (e) intercultural coexistence as well as the new rise of a hostile rhetoric and anti-migrant attitudes under a COVID-19 pandemic populism. The unravelling of the narratives revealed perceptions and practices of inequality and uncertainty as well as of hope. The socioeconomic impact of the pandemic on immigrants, asylum seekers and refugees, similarities and differences that occurred and evidence of the ongoing obstacles they encountered during the pandemic are presented. Policy and practice implications include the implementation of prevention measures by the institutions that are tasked with the responsibility to remove hindrances, address unequal treatment, racial/ethnic and social inequalities and raise awareness on multiple ways in which the COVID-19 pandemic has intensified vulnerability. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Global Migration and the Rise of Populism)
15 pages, 329 KiB  
Article
Discourse, Immigration and the Spanish Press: Critical Analysis of the Discourse on the Ceuta and Melilla Border Incident
by Teresa Terrón-Caro, Rocío Cárdenas-Rodríguez and Fabiola Ortega-de-Mora
Societies 2022, 12(2), 56; https://doi.org/10.3390/soc12020056 - 29 Mar 2022
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2897
Abstract
The Spanish press relayed the events that unfolded during the migratory incident that occurred in Ceuta and Melilla on 17 May 2021. Considering the media’s key role in social and ideological construction, the purpose of this article is to analyze the informative treatment [...] Read more.
The Spanish press relayed the events that unfolded during the migratory incident that occurred in Ceuta and Melilla on 17 May 2021. Considering the media’s key role in social and ideological construction, the purpose of this article is to analyze the informative treatment that the Spanish press gave to this incident, contributing to the study of the image that is shown about the migrant population in the media. For this, the present qualitative study performed a critical analysis, using the Atlas software. Ti 8, of the discourse featuring in the newspaper publications of El País, El Mundo, La Vanguardia and ABC. The results demonstrated the following tendencies: a negative-tone discourse; the invisibility of migrant women; and a “we” vs. “them” narrative. In the light of this reality, we suggest that improvements be made, including a shift in the media’s populist discourse and a greater focus on diasporas. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Global Migration and the Rise of Populism)
16 pages, 279 KiB  
Article
Populism as New Wine in Old Bottles in the Context of Germany: ‘Symbolic Violence’ as Collective Habitus That Devalues the Human Capital of Turks
by Joana Vassilopoulou, Mustafa Ozbilgin, Dimitria Groutsis and Janroj Keles
Societies 2022, 12(2), 45; https://doi.org/10.3390/soc12020045 - 09 Mar 2022
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2631
Abstract
Populism in Germany is not a new phenomenon. For a long time, the alleged integration problems of Turkish workers in Germany have been at the center of the dominant discourse and academic studies. This paper demonstrates how ‘symbolic violence’ as collective habitus frames [...] Read more.
Populism in Germany is not a new phenomenon. For a long time, the alleged integration problems of Turkish workers in Germany have been at the center of the dominant discourse and academic studies. This paper demonstrates how ‘symbolic violence’ as collective habitus frames the human capital of Turks as deficient, a phenomenon which has prevailed even prior to the recent populist movements. Drawing on a company case study, interviews, and observations, our empirical investigation operationalises and expands the Bourdieusian conceptual trinity of habitus, capital, and symbolic violence through the lens of ethnicity and how it relates to populism. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Global Migration and the Rise of Populism)

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25 pages, 381 KiB  
Concept Paper
The Rise of Donald Trump Right-Wing Populism in the United States: Middle American Radicalism and Anti-Immigration Discourse
by Giovanna Campani, Sunamis Fabelo Concepción, Angel Rodriguez Soler and Claudia Sánchez Savín
Societies 2022, 12(6), 154; https://doi.org/10.3390/soc12060154 - 02 Nov 2022
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 17095
Abstract
Populism has been an inherent phenomenon in the history of the United States since the beginning of the republic to the present, but it is only in 2016 that a populist leader, Donald Trump, has won the presidential election. The article considers Trump’s [...] Read more.
Populism has been an inherent phenomenon in the history of the United States since the beginning of the republic to the present, but it is only in 2016 that a populist leader, Donald Trump, has won the presidential election. The article considers Trump’s victory as part of the history of USA populism, taking into consideration the demand and the support for it in specific groups of radicalized, mainly white American citizens, who, since the late 1960s, felt abandoned or even betrayed by the mainstream political leadership through times of economic restructuring, cultural changes, and demographic transitions. This broad overview shows how USA populism, far from being the product of lunatic leaders, is deeply rooted in long-term processes concerning millions of people. The United States are a nation that has been built by immigration and wracked by debates about each successive wave of it: however, the forms debates on immigration have taken vary according to the generations. This paper makes the attempt to analyze the specificities of the present debate. The major changes introduced in migration policies in 1965 have slowly produced demographic changes in the ethnic components of the nation. The transformational demographic change- the majority ethnic group- non-Hispanic white people becoming one of multiple minorities- has been exploited by right-wing populists, such as Pat Buchanan, since the Nineties. Donald Trump’s speech on immigration is connected with different ideological positions—conservatism, paleo-conservatism, nativism, white suprematism—that form the puzzle of Trumpism, which has become a reference for international populists. Furthermore, opposition to immigration means delimiting the borders of the nation: this is an evident symbol of the rejection of the globalist idea of a borderless world that an elite pursues and that is repudiated by Trumpism. With his open contempt for “globalism” (as the idea that economic and foreign policy should be planned in an international way) and for the liberal–cosmopolitan elites who have provided ideological cover for it, Donald Trump has rallied many Americans and gained supporters in different parts of the world. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Global Migration and the Rise of Populism)
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