Jean Monnet Network
Duration: 2021-2023, funded: Erasmus+
Researcher: Prof. Dr. Peter Haslinger and PD Dr. Heidi Hein-Kircher
European Integration and the European Union’s (EU) stability have been challenged by far-right populism, the deliberate violation of EU refugee and asylum legislation, and outright discrimination and violence against “migrants” and “ethnic minorities” (used here as umbrella terms to refer to both economic migrants and refugees, and to ethnic, national and ethno-religious minorities). To account for this, SECUREU examines the securitization of ethnicity — public discourses and political practices that turn migrants and ethnic minorities into an inherent security threat calling for exceptional measures.
The network will explore why security has entered the EU’s and its member states’ discourses and practices on migration and ethnic diversity, and examine the role of securitization processes in the rise of xenophobia in all its variants. SECUREU’s research will sensitize EU policymakers to the substantive implications of securitizing ethnicity and thus help them to address these problems. SECUREU involves six academic institutions in six different countries along with the Council for European Studies (CES).
CES’ formidable dissemination resources guarantee worldwide diffusion of the network’s insights.