The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Bordering Discourses Regarding Migration and Mobility in Europe
Funded by The NCCR - On the move and the Swiss National Foundation
Summary
This research project traces the evolution of migration and mobility control measures and their discursive justification in Europe as the global crisis provoked by the Covid-19 pandemic is unfolding. It is designed to show how multi-level decision-making structures and processes react to emergency situations, and how unforeseen systemic pressures disrupt political narratives about migration and mobility. Drawing on previous research on bordering discourses in Europe, we seek to identify the perturbing impact of an external shock, in this case the Covid-19 pandemic, on established discursive practices in national parliaments and among policy-makers regarding migration, mobility and border controls in Europe.
Research Questions
The project asks the following questions:
How do actors align around positions and framing of the crisis and migration/mobility policy responses to the Covid-19 crisis?
Do we observe a change in legitimization discourses surrounding immigration and mobility policies?
Objectives and Key Results
To tackle these issues, we focus on three aspects:
The identification and gradation of migration and mobility measures implemented by countries longitudinally and cross-sectionally;
The aggregation of narratives about migration and mobility into discourse coalitions;
The effects of coalition forming on institutional practices of bordering at the domestic and supranational level.
Throughout, we consider how border narratives and practices in Europe refer to each other and to the border practices of non-European states and international actors