The EU’s Multiple Crises: Democracy, Borders, and Citizens

Abstract

Over the past 10 years, the EU has encountered ‘crises’ of various sorts: the 2008 financial crisis, the following sovereign depth crisis in 2010-2012 as a result of the instability of the Eurozone, and more recently, the so-called ‘migration crisis’ in the Mediterranean. These crises took place at times of persisting terrorist threats in Member States and general scepticism about the European Project. These development are highlighted by the rise of anti-EU (populist) parties in various European Member States, with at its peak the 2016 Brexit vote in the UK. Due to these aforementioned processes, it is necessary to reflect upon its consequences for European integration and the degree to which EU policies are able to effectively tackle these issues. This panel will address these questions, with a variety of thematic papers dealing with EU citizens’ eurosceptic and eurofriendly attitudes, the sustainability of common policies on asylum and integration, populist responses to ‘the migration crisis’ and securitization in the case of fighting radicalisation. It deals with a broad range of country cases and methodological perspectives including narrative-, discourse- and qualitative content analysis.