The migration–terrorism nexus: an analysis of German and Italian press coverage of the ‘refugee crisis’
Over the last few years, terrorist attacks in European cities, together with the so-called ‘refugee crisis’, have (re)ignited a debate on whether there is an association between the two issues. Drawing on sociological approaches to risk and uncertainty, I claim that the discursive construction of ca...
| Autor principal: | |
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| Tipo de documento: | Electrónico Artículo |
| Lenguaje: | Inglés |
| Publicado: |
2022
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| En: |
European journal of criminology
Año: 2022, Volumen: 19, Número: 2, Páginas: 259-281 |
| Acceso en línea: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Journals Online & Print: | Gargar...
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| Verificar disponibilidad: | HBZ Gateway |
| Palabras clave: |
| Sumario: | Over the last few years, terrorist attacks in European cities, together with the so-called ‘refugee crisis’, have (re)ignited a debate on whether there is an association between the two issues. Drawing on sociological approaches to risk and uncertainty, I claim that the discursive construction of causal linkages connecting refugees and migrants to terrorist activities is a fundamental passage in the process of social construction of migration as a threat. To identify the terrorism–migration linkages constructed in/through the media, this article examines the coverage of migration issues in two Italian and two German newspapers in 2015 and 2016, combining computer-assisted and qualitative content analysis. My findings reveal, firstly, how and in what circumstances the discourse on the terrorism threat is conflated with the discourse on migration. Then, the in-depth analysis of causal links in the coverage of four main terror attacks in Europe shows the predominance of a chain of causation linking terrorism to new migrants and refugees. Given the limited empirical research informing the debate over the migration–terrorism nexus, this study contributes to a better understanding of the process of social construction of migrants as threat objects. |
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| ISSN: | 1741-2609 |
| DOI: | 10.1177/1477370819896213 |
