Fred Paxton
Italian populists’ focus on ‘the will of the people’ has frequently contradicted their ideological priorities towards migration, Fred Paxton and Andrea Pettrachin find. The perception of local attitudes to immigration and issue salience are the determining factors in how populists in local government make their decisions Read more
Philipp Lutz
Western countries repeatedly point to resettlement – the organised transfer of refugees to a safe third country – as a solution to persistent humanitarian crises. Yet, Philipp Lutz and Lea Portmann show how such resettlement can, paradoxically, be a way for states to legitimise limiting access to humanitarian protection Read more
Gabriella Gricius
States face not just threats to their physical security, but also to their sense of self and biographical continuity. This is what we call securitisation. Understanding the process of securitisation can uncover taken-for-granted colonial and imperial influences that would otherwise remain hidden, writes Gabriella Gricius Read more
Dionysios Stivas
‘Securitising’ an alleged external threat can be a convenient tool for political leaders to justify extreme measures and policies. Dionysios Stivas looks at the case of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s handling of asylum seekers in 2015 Read more
Emilia Palonen
The Finns Party elected a new leader this weekend. The baton passed from Jussi Halla-aho to his radical right-hand woman Riikka Purra. This, writes Emilia Palonen, is a move that consolidates the Finns as a party of illiberal right-wingers Read more
Natalie Welfens
Safe and legal pathways to protection in Europe are scarce. Officially, states should admit only ‘the most vulnerable’ refugees. Yet, writes Natalie Welfens, humanitarian considerations are increasingly bound up with concerns about refugees' social and cultural fit with the admission state Read more
Gemma Dipoppa
The emergence of criminal organisations has been blamed on state weakness. But recent trends in organised crime expansion show that criminal groups often move to states with strong economies and institutions. As mafias establish permanent roots in new countries, Gemma Dipoppa suggests that migrant exploitation might play an important role Read more
Vassilis Petsinis
Euroscepticism manifests itself in different ways in the Balkans. Why? Vassilis Petsinis argues that grasping the differences between attitudes in different Balkan nations helps explain Serbia’s long and complex EU accession process Read more
