Have Refugees Become A Security Problem? A Comparative Study Of Securitization In The United Kingdom And Germany

Abstract

This study seeks to identify if and how transnational migration is linked to security issues when a discourse of a ‘refugee crisis’ is being established. The theoretical framework of ‘securitization theory’ developed by the Copenhagen School is applied and tested; namely the process of treating a political issue as an urgent threat to legitimize extraordinary measures. The British and German governments are compared through a discourse analysis according to a ‘most similar design’. The findings show that a government-led securitization of migration has occurred in the UK during the initial phases of the 2015 ’refugee crisis’. The government frame migration as a threat towards the British society and sovereignty. In Germany however, such a securitization process is absent. Instead, the German government express security concerns about nationalism and xenophobia, which are perceived as threats towards the EU cooperation and towards migrants. Security rhetoric can thus be used to justify a stricter migration policy, but also to legitimize extraordinary actions in favour of migrants and to protect the EU. These results display that a discursive approach to security is continually relevant to detect ‘new’ and untraditional security issues.