Re-Bordering the European Union: The Politicisation and Contestation of Migration Issue in Domestic Political Spaces

Abstract

Migration is a key issue in European politics. In the context of polarised national political arenas, it is often framed in terms of security. The issue of migration is also central to the process of (re)constructing borders currently underway in the EU, especially in Central and Eastern Europe. In response to the Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine, “bordering,” as a political process that aims to order space and organise social relations (Popescu 2011), is generating new dynamics of inclusion and exclusion in Europe. The security-based framing of the migration issue, as constructed by political and media actors (Krzyżanowski et al., 2018), can result in the militarisation of border areas and the suspension of the right to asylum. This reflects a political “denial of immigration” (Héran, 2023) that is increasingly widespread both in Europe and the US. However, framing migration as a “crisis" does not necessarily reflect a statistically significant influx (Reddy, Thiollet, 2023; Dakowska, Skowronska, 2025). The responses to the arrival of refugees following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine illustrate the complexity of borderwork (Rumsford, 2014): while some groups experience increased mobility and welcoming schemes, others face greater restrictions. This panel analyses how the migration issue has rereshaped political landscapes and social relations within the European Union and among its neighbouring countries since 2015, with a particular focus on the EU's eastern border. It is structured around th following two dimensions: 1. The impact of the migration issue on political arenas This dimension involves analysing the political uses of migration within the national political arena examining crisis narratives and how reception is framed as either as a duty, or an opportunity or, conversely, as a risk or a burden. We will also consider responses and measures concerning the reshaping of migration policies and their relationship to the dynamics of political competition. We are particularly interested in the consequences of the Russian war in Ukraine. 2. Re-bordering the European Union as a contested issue Borderwork and bordering concerns not only the European institutions, and state and sub-state actors, but also citizens and non-citizens. Through the lens of borders, we analyse how different actors frame migration issues. We examine the emergence of new border narratives by focusing on the actors involved in producing them. We also consider the dynamics of resistance to, and contestation of, EU and national migration policies.

Title	Details
The Domestic Discourses on Responsibility-Sharing by Political Elites	View Paper Details
War Refugees and the Ukrainian Demographic Crisis	View Paper Details
Mobility Governance in Times of External Aggression: Ukraine and the Politics of Emergency	View Paper Details
Choosing Refuge: Policy, Demographics, and Ukrainian Refugee Settlement Across Europe	View Paper Details
Belarus’s Diaspora Politics Through the Lens of Authoritarian Resilience	View Paper Details