The Meaning of 'Protection' in the Age of Migration Anxieties

In an age of growing anxiety and insecurity surrounding migration, little is known about what protection means to individuals as they navigate the complexities of globalisation. This paper examines how citizens in six countries understand and experience protection, and how they interpret policies presented as ‘protective’ in the context of migration. It foregrounds emotions, addressing the understudied affective dynamics that link feelings of insecurity to demands for protection. Specifically, the paper explores three dimensions: (a) the emotional needs citizens associate with protection; (b) how these needs are fulfilled or left unmet within migration politics; and (c) how individuals make sense of policies that politicians frame as providing safety, security, or protection in relation to migration. Empirically, the analysis draws on qualitative data from six focus groups conducted with members of the public in the UK, Germany, Poland, Portugal, Denmark, and Israel. The paper offers both theoretical and empirical contributions to migration politics, comparative politics, and political psychology. Theoretically, it advances existing scholarship by developing a novel conceptual framework that captures the affective foundations of protection in the contemporary age of insecurity. Empirically, it provides rich comparative qualitative evidence that highlights cross-contextual and policy-specific differences in how protection is emotionally and politically understood within migration policymaking.