Representations of Civil Society: Media Debates About Engagement in Solidarity with Refugees in Germany

As in other countries, public debate about migration in Germany has increasingly polarized over the last years. The highly divided reactions to the growing number of refugees in 2015 and 2016 were key to this development. While some parts of society increasingly rejected refugees with mobilizations ranging from anti-asylum protests to individual attacks against migrants, other parts of society welcomed and supported them in a wave of civil society engagement that was dubbed “welcome culture”. The paper examines media discourses about this wave of engagement in support of refugees. Based on an analysis of major German newspapers between 2014 and 2018, we explore divisions in the public debates about the engagement and its changes over time. In how far do perspectives on “welcome culture” differ across media outlets and how does this possibly shift throughout the years as the engagement takes on new forms? The analysis demonstrates how views on engagement in solidarity with refugees increasingly diverge and how this, more generally, points to different attitudes about migration. Furthermore, the various views on this wave of engagement reveal diverging perspectives on the role that civil society is expected to play in democratic societies, for example as a watchdog or service provider.