In person icon The Populist Turn of Migration Laws

Abstract

Populist forces have found fertile ground in the domain of migration, where they often use public resentment and nationalist sentiments to undermine legal protections and institutions designed to safeguard migrants. We are witnessing a “populist turn” in migration laws and practices, with trends such as pushbacks, deterrent measures, and externalisation becoming widespread. Protective legal norms are now under attack, with some blaming these very laws for intensifying populism. This panel seeks to critically explore the intersection of populism and migration laws and policies, examining how populist pressures are reshaping migration policies, eroding legal protections, and legitimising increasingly hostile measures towards migrants. We will bring together academics specialising in law, political sciences, international relations, and philosophy, to examine the causes, trends, and extent of the turn to populism. Using diverse perspectives, we will use recent developments in the European context in order to assess the extent of the shift and address some fundamental questions that it raises about our understanding of community, democracy, human rights and morality. We contend that such an interdisciplinary perspective can crucially enrich traditional and disciplinary-bound debates, making us engage with the very nature and various implications of populism in relation to issues of migration.

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