Anna Triandafyllidou

The political discourse on immigration in southern Europe: a critical analysis

This study analyses the political discourse on immigration in Greece, Italy and Spain, with a view to highlighting how discourse is organised and, in particular, the use of ingroup and outgroup categories in it. It is hypothesised that talk on immigration involves a re-elaboration of national identity and re-definition of the ingroup/nation and outgroup/immigrant representation. Moreover, it is expected that immigrants are represented as Others, alien to the ingroup and, therefore, to be excluded from the host society. My aim here is to highlight the commonality of identity processes activated in different social-historical contexts and analyse the connection between ingroup-outgroup representations and the specific historical legacy and socio-economic reality of a given country. Greece, Italy and Spain have been selected as a suitable set of case studies because they have recently been transformed from senders to hosts of migrants. The section that follows describes briefly the size of the immigration phenomenon in each country and the public policies adopted. The second section discusses the ingroup-outgroup dynamics activated in immigration discourse from a sociological and a social psychological perspective. The third section concentrates on the analysis of political discourse, namely interviews with non-governmental organisations, trade union representatives and public administration employees in Athens, Rome and Madrid. The methodology used is that of qualitative discourse analysis. Findings are discussed under the light of sociological and social psychological research on the issue. Copyright

Irregular Immigration Control in Italy and Greece: Strong Fencing and Weak Gate-keeping serving the Labour Market

Italy and Greece have been often blamed by their fellow EU Member States for the excessive permeability of their borders, their inability to stop irregular migration, and their inefficient asylum systems. In addition the two countries have weak internal controls, especially as regards the sectors of the labour market where immigrants are usually employed e.g. agriculture, domestic work, tourism and catering. This article seeks to make sense of these fundamentally contradictory policies that characterise Greece’s and Italy’s approach to managing migration. The article starts by outlining the common features of Italian and Greek immigration policies and proposes an analysis of immigration control regimes along two dimensions: their internal (within the country’s territory) or external (at the border or outside the border) character, and their fencing (stopping) vs. gate-keeping (preventing) nature. Section 3 discusses critically the irregular migration inflows in Greece, the policies implemented to address them and their contradictory results. Section 4 reviews the related policies in Italy and casts light to their inconsistencies. In the concluding section, we highlight the possible explanations for these two countries’ lack of direction in immigration management pointing to the opposition between excessively regulated labour markets, large informal economies and strict border controls which however become lax and ineffective once irregular migrants or asylum seekers are within the country.

Albanian immigrants in Italy: migration plans, coping strategies and identity issues

This paper studies the adaptation and survival strategies that Albanian immigrants develop from the beginning of their migration project through to their establishment in the host country, Italy. We are particularly interested in how immigrants make sense of the host countrys social and institutional environment and the related immigration policy measures and implementation practices, and their strategies for coping with these. More specifically, the study examines how immigrants organise their migration project upon departure from the country of origin and how they adapt their plans and develop coping strategies in response to the social and institutional environment of the country of destination. We also explore how they experience the daily practices of immigration policy implementation in the Italian administration offices and how they perceive ‘institutional’ or ‘private’ attitudes of discrimination (the presence of prejudice, discrimination and/or hostile treatment or, on the other hand, the presence of flexible and personalised practices of policy implementation in favour of immigrants). We thus show how immigrants act in a context of limitations and opportunities which they actively integrate into their migration experience and their understanding of themselves, their country of origin and the host country. The research is based on 30 interviews conducted with Albanian immigrants (22 men and eight women) between September and December 2001 in the Florence area.

Voting with their feet: highly skilled emigrants from southern Europe

In this article, the authors present new empirical data on highly skilled emigrants from two southern European countries, Italy and Greece, which have been particularly hit by the global financial and Eurozone crisis. The data have been generated by an e-survey conducted in late spring and summer 2013. Through analyzing the responses of Greek and Italian citizens who have chosen to emigrate, the authors present new insights on their educational backgrounds, the conditions that have motivated their decision to emigrate, and the way in which they have defined their migration project. It is argued that the decision to migrate is driven by a sense of severe relative deprivation as a result of the crisis and a deep frustration with the conditions in the home country. The crisis seems to have magnified the “push” factors that already existed in Italy and Greece and that now nurture this migration wave. At the same time, however, this migration is also framed within a more general perspective of a vision of life in which mobility and new experiences are valued positively and also seen as part of one’s professional identity.

Albanian and Polish Migration to Italy: The Micro-Processes of Policy, Implementation and Immigrant Survival Strategies.

This article examines how undocumented immigrants take advantage or react to the windows of opportunity opened to them by immigration policy design and implementation practices in the country of destination. The study concentrates on the case of Albanian and Polish immigrants in Italy. Looking into the policy provisions regarding entry, stay and immigrant employment in Italy, as well as the practices of implementation adopted by the public administration, we study how immigrants prepare and execute their migration plans, how they find employment once in Italy, and how they adapt their plans to the institutional and social environments of the host country as well as their own wishes and needs. We thus highlight the micro-level of the migration phenomenon and the dynamic relationship between policy design, implementation and immigrant strategies.

Contextualising immigration policy implementation in Europe

The end of the twentieth and the beginning of the twenty-first century in Europe are marked by processes of social and economic change that seriously affect immigration policy design and implementation. Borders have become more permeable, partly because of the emergence of the European Union as a transnational entity without internal frontiers, but also because business has become transnational, transport has become cheaper and faster, and media communication has increased exponentially, embracing distant peoples into a global flow of information. Labour mobility has intensified and some segments of the industrialised countries’ labour markets have become accessible to foreign workers. Southern European countries, traditionally sources of immigrant labour force, have suddenly become host countries despite high rates of unemployment among native workers. The flexibility required by post-industrial forms of labour and the permeability of borders have transformed border controls. These are no longer carried out by guardians at the borders. They instead take place within national territories by administrative employees and welfare officers. Large corporations compete for the best-qualified workers while small firms and households take advantage of undocumented immigrant labour. Daily implementation routines of national administrations further complicate matters, while the pressure mounts for conformity with European directives concerning both immigration control and immigrant integration. This paper discusses the above issues, highlighting the context within which immigration policy implementation in Europe operates today. It points to the complexities of the overall picture as well as of individual country realities which are further analysed in the case studies presented in this special issue of JEMS.

Greek Immigration Policy at the Turn of the 21st Century. Lack of Political Will or Purposeful Mismanagement

This article traces the development of Greek immigration policy during the last two decades with a view to explaining the role that parties, trade unions and other actors including the Church for instance have played in shaping this policy. The article outlines the reactive and piecemeal character of the policy, its important weakness in dealing effectively with immigration flows and the excessive red tape that characterises it. It is noted that nearly 20 years after the first migrants arrived in the country, Greek immigration policy remains short-sighted, dealing with immigration as a necessary evil and not as an opportunity. This lack of vision and the closed character of the policy has been supported directly or indirectly by both parties and trade unions. The two major parties have been until recently largely agreed in their exclusionary views towards immigrants. It is only since 2004 that the Socialist party has changed its plans but it remains uncertain whether and how it would implement its radical (by Greek standards) pro-immigrant policies if it came to power. Overall, Greek political elites lack the political will to adopt a proactive and realistic migration policy plan. This is partly because migration neither wins nor loses national elections. And partly because they fear that stating publicly that Greece should accept economic immigrants through legal channels and that immigrants should become part of Greek society on a basis of equality and plurality would cost them votes.

Greek education policy and the challenge of migration: an ‘intercultural’ view of assimilation

This article explores the policy responses and conceptual underpinnings of intercultural education in Greece. In the past two decades, and as a result of migration, Greece has seen its demography significantly and irreversibly altered in social, cultural, economic, ethnic, racial, and religious terms. Faced with an increasingly diverse student population, novel education policies are required. This article addresses the following questions: How has intercultural education been designed in Greece in response to growing immigration? What are the main objectives of Greek educational policy as regards contemporary Greek society overall and the immigrant population in particular? Are these changing, and if so in what direction? Is intercultural education perceived differently on the part of the various stakeholders? Based on our empirical research we highlight the connection between education policy approaches, practices and national identity discourses in order to explore the conceptual confusion of intercultural vs multicultural education approaches and the importance of the national context. We also raise a number of issues that we consider merit further examination both in policy and research terms in order to expand and enrich intercultural education in Greece

Constructing Difference: The Mosque Debates in Greece

After two decades of immigration, contemporary Greek society is characterised by cultural and religious diversity. We argue here, however, that the challenges posed by migration-related diversity are not yet sufficiently addressed in institutional or normative terms. Rather, dominant national self-understandings remain mono-cultural and mono-religious, while accommodation of this diversity is not yet approached in inclusive and integrating ways. Media and parliamentary debates regarding the construction of a mosque in the capital, Athens, are explored in this context. Dominant understandings of Greek national identity are discussed in this article, together with the ways in which difference is framed in current public discourses, and the actors and values that structured the debate on the accommodation of the religious needs of Greeces Muslim immigrant population.

New Greek Nationalism

The creation of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia after the dismantling of the Yugoslav federation has led to a revival of Greek nationalism. Greece has refused to recognize the new state as the ‘Republic of Macedonia’, sustaining that its name and national symbols form part of Greek culture and identity and are, therefore, unacceptable. The aim of this study is to highlight the Greek claims of ‘property’ over certain cultural traditions and, more specifically, the relationship between these claims and the ethno-cultural character of Greek national identity. Moreover, the paper examines the strategic manipulation of nationalist feelings by Greek politicians. The role of political and cultural myths in (re)defining national identity and in drawing the boundaries, symbolic and territorial, between ‘us’ and the ‘others’ is investigated. The problems that may arise from such an ethnic conception of the nation-state are discussed and a ‘constitutional model of patriotism’ is proposed as an alternative solution.