scholarly journals Much Ado about Nothing

Politeja ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (6(63)) ◽  
pp. 167-175
Author(s):  
Ludovica Grossi

The Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration is, as The Economist described it in a recent column by Tom Nuttall, a dull piece of reading. At best, stressed Nuttal, it helps build the trust between sending and receiving countries that is the foundation of any meaningful international policy.Then how did a non-binding, declaratory intergovernmental agreement becamea crucial part of the political discourse in a considerable number of EU countries, effectively leading to the withdrawal of several governments from the Compact? The upheaval caused by the adoption of the Compact (which hadalready been discussed and agreed upon by all signatory governments in July, before becoming a token for nationalist propaganda) has once again demonstrated the inability of the EU to grow towards a sensitive migration policy, and the recklessness of many governments in refusing to engage in a reasonable conversation with other international actors in favour of a political line led by sensationalism and misinformation. The aim of this research paper is to map thedevelopment of the debate over the Global Compact in Italy building up to its abstention during the Marrakesh Conference on December 10th-11th. The research focuses on the main actors of the current political discourse in Italy, their inaccuracy and deliberate ambiguity in addressing concerns over the Compactduring Parliamentary sessions and through the mass media, and the failure of the opposition, together with civil society, to leverage a valid counterargument to the growing hysteria about the migration crisis. The expected outcomes are the identification of common patterns in the nationalist discourse in Italy and the advancement of possible new practices to effectively foster a consistent, level-headed conversation about migration management that steers away from sterile symbolism and responsibly addresses community issues at the national and EU levels.

2021 ◽  
pp. 33-57
Author(s):  
Bela Y. Zhelitski ◽  

Following a brief description of the unprecedented waves of migration flowing into Europe from the Middle East and Africa, the author analyses the migration policy of the European Union and Hungary's attitude towards this policy between 2014 and 2019. The study centers on the positions, views, and specific actions of the leadership of the European Commission and the political class of Hungary, as well as the relations between them. The main approaches of the parties towards solving the problems of the migration crisis and the differences between them on key issues of migration policy, which at times turned into confrontations between Budapest and Brussels, are shown. Particular attention is given to the circumstances that led to the EU migration crisis.


Author(s):  
Galina Voronenkova ◽  
Julia Islanova

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.


Energies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (22) ◽  
pp. 5969
Author(s):  
Kateryna Yakovenko ◽  
Matúš Mišík

The COVID-19 pandemic appeared in the midst of developing the European Green Deal, the most ambitious project to decarbonise the EU’s economy to date. Among other issues, the project highlighted the challenges connected to the long-term role of natural gas as a fossil fuel in the European economy. Moreover, the changes to the gas architecture caused by the development of new import infrastructure (especially Nord Stream and its extension, which is currently under construction) put additional pressure on the transit countries, mainly of which are linked to the Brotherhood pipeline. These have been strong supporters of natural gas utilisation and harsh critics of new pipelines that circumvent their territories, as they consider energy transit to be an important part of their energy sectors. This research examines the political discourse on gas transit in Slovakia and Ukraine in order to identify the main arguments connected to these positions. The paper examines a total of 233 textual units from both countries for the period 2014–2018. It concludes that, while Ukraine sees transit predominantly through the lens of cooperation with the EU and other actors, the Slovak political discourse considers gas transit in terms of energy security and the availability of gas for the national economy.


Significance The EU is still struggling to formulate a coordinated response to the migration crisis, but it has managed to make significant cuts in illegal immigration by tightening control of its external borders and reducing the number of irregular crossings of the Mediterranean. Impacts An EU-Africa summit in November will review measures to prevent people from trying to come to Europe in the first place. The number of people crossing the Mediterranean has fallen, but for each individual attempting the journey the risk of dying has increased. The sense of being abandoned by other EU countries could boost Euroscepticism in the run-up to next year’s election in Italy. Conflicts over migration policy are likely to deepen the east-west divide within the EU.


2013 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 417-450 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nikolas Sellheim

Abstract The European Union’s ban on the placing on the market of seal products stemming from commercially hunted seals has triggered much controversy due to its negative impacts on Arctic livelihoods. This article looks at the different documents and steps that constitute the crafting process which has led to the adoption of Regulation 1007/2009 on trade in seal products. It puts special emphasis on the degree of recognition of commercial sealing as a livelihood and asks if it is a tradition that may have been neglected by the political discourse in the EU. Also the role of antisealing groups is considered that may have contributed to a pre-determined stance on the commercial seal hunt during the policy-making process.


Author(s):  
Aleksei Aleksandrovich Matveev

This article is dedicated to migration security, which is viewed within the paradigm of sustainable development and as part of the global security system. The author attempts to reveal the mechanisms and principles that define the effect of migration security upon the political and social stability of the countries in the period of migration crisis. The role actors in achieving sustainable development through the discourse of global security is determined. For solving the set tasks, the article employs comparative and systematic approaches. The key factors of the global security system are identified. An assessment is given to migration processes and their impact upon the goals of sustainable development. The author carries out the analysis of the current European migration policy. The relevance and novelty of this article are substantiated by the the philosophical discourse of migration security and synergy, encompassing the global social security system; whereas this question has been previously studied with focus on the legal, demographic, ethnic, or economic aspects. Analysis is also conducted on the the stage-by-stage mechanisms of migration security implemented by the political regimes of majority of the developed democratic countries. Description is given to the three-tier system of interaction of agents in implementation of migration security. The author examines the content and attitude towards migrants in the EU border countries, and the impact of structural violence in society within the “own/alien” discourse. An alternate solution for solving the dilemma of social tension and retaining  the “thread of governance” in the question of mobility of the citizens is offered. The analysis is given to the Global Compact for Migration, its capabilities, and shortcomings. The author also provides a philosophical understanding of migration security.


Author(s):  
M. A. Kukartseva

The article considers the essence and peculiarities of realizing of human security in the EU external policy in general and specifically in Africa. The article reveals the principles of the EU interest in Africa as a focus of their humanitarian policy: phantoms of the collective memory of the political class of Western European countries, huge potential of resources and markets, migration and terrorist threat. It is argued that this policy is considered by the EU as its strategic foreign policy narrative, in the course of which the Union, while ensuring the security of the African continent, primarily realizes its own interests. Specific features of the interpretation of this narrative in official documents of Germany as a key member of the EU are specified. It is revealed that Germany aims to play a major role in shaping European policy towards the African continent, and the specificity of its approach is economic-centric, which distinguishes it from the EU’s general approach to Africa. The key question of the article is how is disinterested Germany’s role, despite its permeation with the spirit of liberal values as a supplier of human security to African countries. It is shown that the discrimination of refugees and migrants in migration flows in the EU emphasized the importance of the Union’s activities in ensuring human security in Africa. In accordance with its goal to become the leading actor of the EU policy on the continent, its role as a leader of the liberal world and the peculiarities of the consequences of the migration crisis for the political and party system of the country and the stability of the social state, Germany proposed the German “Marshall Plan” for Africa as a concretization of its humanitarian policy on the continent. The parameters of this Plan, its advantages and implementation difficulties are considered. It is concluded that the Germany’s approach to Africa, on the whole, indisputably contributes to the latter’s development. At the same time, it is to a large extent focused on solving the tasks of ensuring national security of Germany itself, promoting the interests of German business, creating new German “reserves” in Africa through the African partnership. In this bi-directional process there is no obvious contradiction, but the results of this process can become ambivalent.


2020 ◽  
pp. 45-57
Author(s):  
Taisiya Shulga

The purpose of the article is to determine the factors that influenced the process of the development and implementation of Lithuania’s foreign and domestic policies in the field of migration within the framework of the EU rules (dispositive and imperative) and identify those factors that may have a similar effect on the stability of migration processes in Ukraine with regard to its accession to the EU. The task is to determine the problems (negative preconditions and consequences) of the migration sector based on the analysis of more than a decade of experience of Lithuania as an EU member and the influence of the latest European crisis. Lithuania’s strategies with regard to the following issues are relevant to Ukraine’s European integration aspirations: the migration crisis in the EU, in terms of overcoming it through a “relocation plan;” and the integration of the national minorities of Lithuania, including the Roma minority, into the country’s civil society. Furthermore, some of Lithuania’s efforts actively support Ukraine’s European integration aspirations, such as the attempt to model how current problems can be predicted and resolved by Ukraine if it acquires EU membership, on the basis of Lithuania’s experience, which has relevance for Ukraine due to the fact that Lithuania and Ukraine – along Poland and other countries – inherited the Soviet system of government, and because of their similar mentality and current bilateral relations. After the Ukrainian crisis in 2014, and the subsequent EU migration crisis in 2015, Lithuania reviewed its national policy priorities taking into account that its state boundary is the part of the EU boundary, without any “buffer zone.”


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aram Terzyan

The 2018 “Velvet Revolution” in Armenia has renewed scholarly interest in post-Soviet revolution studies. This paper explores the core narratives underlying post-Rose Revolution and post-Velvet Revolution identity construction in Georgian and Armenian political discourses. More specifically, it examines the core narratives employed by the Georgian and Armenian revolution leaders Mikheil Saakashvili and Nikol Pashinyan in constructing the political identities of “New Georgia” and “New Armenia.” The findings suggest that the core narratives dominating Saakashvili’s discourse on post-revolution Georgia are as follows: “democratic Georgia” and “laboratory of democratic reforms,” “stereotype breaker,” “European Georgia,” “peaceful Georgia,” “powerful Georgia” and “security contributor,” determined to homecoming to Europe. Pashinyan’s discourse has revolved around the notion of “proud Armenians,” who established “people’s government” capable of carrying out an “economic revolution.” In contrast to Saakashvili’s emphasis on escaping post-Soviet geopolitical space and gaining centrality in the EU-driven socio-political order, Pashinyan’s discourse does not suggest foreign policy U-turns. It concludes that while the 2003 “Rose Revolution” marked fundamental shifts in self-other conceptions within the Georgian political discourse, the post-revolution Armenian discourse has not experienced dramatic identity-driven transformations.


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