CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2019
| Author | Kostic, Mijat |
|---|---|
| Title | Civilizationism and European Identity: two arguments for anti-immigrant mobilization |
| Summary | The focus of the thesis is reaffirmation of European identity conceptualized on civilizational terms within the anti-immigrant discourse. I will analyze two different civilizational arguments that were used for securitization of migrant crisis in 2015 and have framed miass migration as the threat to European identity. Based on the analysis, I formulate my main hypothesis that the anti-immigrant discourse is the expression of certain form of Pan-European nationalism. In the first chapter of the thesis I will set up the theoretical background and explain the methodology that I will be using, while the second chapter will start with a historical overview of how Europe was conceptualized in the civilizational terms based on its unique culture and tradition. In the second part of this chapter I will make my remarks on different conceptions of European identity from the contemporary perspective. The third chapter consists of brief introduction to transnational populism and civilizationism as the main elements of the anti immigrant mobilization. The main analysis is conducted in chapter four, were I will deconstruct two different types of arguments for anti-immigrant mobilization. The first one that I refer to as the Christian argument is found in the discourse of Viktor Orban who opposes Islam based on its supposed incompatibility with traditional Christian values. On the other hand, secular argument that Wilders uses is based on the commitment to secular ideas and perception that Islam is incompatible with Western liberal values. In conclusion, I will try to answer the more ambitious question: how the anti-immigrant mobilization affects European solidarity and identification with Europe as the common culture? The aim to show that advocates of civilizationist arguments are interpreting those threats as the potential danger primarily to European collective identity, which is contained within their separate national identities. Even when populist anti-immigrant parties ii claim that they are protecting their own national identities, they are putting it in the context of broader civilizational discourse in which the Muslim Other is a threat to Europe as a whole. |
| Supervisor | Noemie Duhaut |
| Department | Nationalism Studies MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2019/kostic_mijat.pdf |
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