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or a conception of ethnic purity can all be cast in terms of survival” (Buzan
et al. 1998, 23).
A more sociological approach of securitisation focuses mainly on the role
of power relations and bureaucratic politics. Securitisation processes, in this
view, are about controlling populations through bureaucratic procedures and
surveillance, with the possibility of these becoming a tool for strengthening
the bonds between insiders. The securitisation of identity in this case will end
up casting refugees and migrants as security threats because they can become
an existential threat to the cohesion of the host community (Hammerstad
2014, 267-268).
The securitisation of identity leads to the securitisation of subjectivity
— the intensified search for and/or attribution of a single, stable identity
“regardless of its actual existence” (Kinnvall 2004 quoted in Croft 2012, 73).
When identity becomes the object of security, it inherently involves the issue
of immigration. The next section seeks to show the securitisation of identities
through migration-related fears.
MIGRATION-RELATED FEARS
The nation-state can be the so-called ‘safe state, creating a sense of security
among its population. Ifa country is going through a crisis and its environment
becomes uncertain, it offers an opportunity to focus on the emotionally driven
political practice (Berezin 2002). A good example of this is the refugee crisis
in 2015.
Migration as a threat can be seen as a result of a construction mechanism
determined by the given historical, social, and political context (Chebel
d’Appolonia 2012; Fekete 2009; Tsoukala 2008). Securitisation of the migration
process has played an important role in both the academic and the public
discourse since the end of the Cold War (Hammerstad 2014), and has become
even more emphasised since 9/11 (Kinnvall 2013). This phenomenon is
connected to the widening concept of security, which contributed to a
sociological approach. In this context, security includes the terms of culture
and identity (Leonard 2010), so that identity itself becomes its most important
object.
The securitisation of identity has led to refugees and immigrants being
considered as a security threat to their host communities (Hammerstad
2014, 267-268). Buzan et al. (2009) point out that the development of the
concept of security is by no means a neutral process, but rather a moral one
with very serious consequences.
The politics of fear in many cases is based on migration policy. Nowadays,
for many, the concept of immigrant encompasses all the external and internal
threats that can endanger the core values of their society. In this context, the
presence of the immigrant always warns of some kind of internal confusion.