Eastern European governments show a high degree of solidarity towards Ukrainian asylum seekers fleeing the conflict provoked by the Russian invasion. At the same time, these governments continue to resist asylum seekers from the Middle East. Irene Landini explains the geographical, cultural and political factors behind this contradiction.
The Austrian government's openly discriminatory policies against migrants have been invalidated by the Constitutional Court and challenged by the European Commission. But, argues Irene Landini, that has not ended ‘welfare chauvinism’ and social exclusion, either in Austria or elsewhere in Europe
Postdoctoral Researcher, School of International Studies, University of Trento
Irene is a political scientist and social researcher working on migration, migration policies and migrants’ civil and social rights, at the interface of academia and applied research.
During her PhD, she investigated the relationship between migration and welfare state development in Western Europe, with particular focus on parties' and politicians' discourses, and policy action, regarding the management of competition for social benefits between natives and migrants.
Currently, she is developing a new research line about the management of irregular migration by national governments in Western Europe.
She focuses specifically on the policies regulating the return and deportation policies of irregular migrants and the actual practices to implement them (their limits, impacts upon migrants, and possible ways of development).
Parallel to that, Irene is also researching the role of international organisations in managing and responding to health crises, especially the Covid-19 pandemic.
Before joining academia, Irene worked in the field of migration and migration policy, as an evaluation and monitoring assistant in the non-profit sector, and also carried out volunteer activities.
