The recent flow of immigrants intoEurope can be attributed to political instability in the homelands of the refugeesinvolved. This situation is referred to as a crisis, both within the Europeanborders and internationally. The crisis has caused complications for theEuropean Union as a whole, which lie in the amalgamation of viewpoints on thesubject within EU member states. The main point would be that the immigrationcrisis has opened up discourse of anti-immigration attitudes and sentimentsfrom some EU nations, which does not harmonize well with what the EuropeanUnions overall stance on the subject is or should be. The political make up of Europe canattribute to why the immigration subject is more complex in comparison to NorthAmerica. Although, there has been rhetoric within some North Americangovernments that support anti-immigration ideology, there are some differencesfrom Europe that makes its case more increasingly politically delicate. Thispaper moves to present these differences by assessing the politicaldistinctions between Europe and North America. Additionally, it will analyzethe effect of radical-right parties in Europe and anti-immigration sentiments. Itwill also point to relevant similarities, such as how the discourse on theimmigration subject compares in some European nations and the United States. Furthermore,it will analyze how the current state of affairs within Europe prove thesubject of immigration to be increasingly intricate and complex beside NorthAmerica.The EU Migrant CrisisDue to unstable conditions in the homecountries of the migrants, many people have fled from their respective severalregions to seek refuge in the European Union. This situation has caused for theEuropean Union to be granted with what is often recognized as their greatest challengesince the debt crisis.[1]Essentially, the problem is that the European Union has to deal with a largeamount of people migrating into various EU nations, and that is something thatthey have not had to deal with in the past.Another important point in order to painta picture of the situation, is the coverage it has within the media. The mediahas had a focus on how migrants are putting themselves in danger in the processof migrating. Some people have even died in an attempt to make this journeyinto Europe. An unfortunate example of this was reported in The Guardian as, twoyoung brothers and their mother were among at least 12 Syrians heading toGreece.[2]The route that these people lost their lives on is one that is extremely dangerous.Geographically, they had no other choice in terms of how to get into Europefrom Syria.[3] All inall, migrants are too often putting themselves in danger during their migrationtravels and this proves how desperate they are in seeking asylum, consideringthey put themselves and their children in such danger. Furthermore, the number ofillegal border-crossing detections in the European Union started to surge atthe onset of the Arab Spring. Events such as the Arab Spring uprisings and theongoing Syrian civil war have produced instability in many nations in theMiddle East and Africa. This instability has essentially coerced the people ithas affected to seek migration to the European Union in order to take refugefrom the chaos. It has been pointed out that in a sense, the Europeanmigration crisis could and even should be attributed to Western inaction in theMiddle East. As of March 15, the Syrian civil war has officially entered intoits 7th year, with a death toll of 470,000. There has been someWestern intervention but none on the front lines to stop the fighting.[4]Syrian refugees initially fled to neighboring nations such as Turkey andJordan, but more so made their way to Europe. It is important to recognize thatpeople most often do not leave their homes unless they feel as though it is notabsolutely necessary and the best option. Moreover, because of the variety of stances on the migrant situation within the EU there is confliction for the EU in finding a policy that will deal with the migration crisis in an effective and coherent manner. This is an attributing factor to why the subject of immigration is politically delicate in Europe over North America. An example that proves this delicacy could be seen with the nation of Hungary. Hungary has faced criticism for past actions it has had against incoming migrants. The New York Times reported, The Hungarian riot police fired tear gas and water cannons at hundreds of migrants The use of force by the Hungarian authorities, a turning point in the migration crisis, drew criticism from the United Nations[5] This event highlights the tensions of individual nations within the EU and with the European Union as a whole. Also, the reaction to this event caused for varying attitudes and overall confusion for European leaders in terms of understanding what the unified solution to the migrant crisis is and it was seen to intensify animosity among nations. Within this context, it isnoteworthy to point out that the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights(FRA) has recently published a report in support of immigration andintegration. This can be seen as an effort to shift how the situation is framedfrom the level of individual nations and more towards the EU as a whole. FRAdirector Michael OFlaherty can be quoted saying, the migrants living in theEU are not part of a crisis, but an integral part of our society. We need anew narrative that stresses the benefits that migrants bring to oursocieties integration is key to our security and to our democracy.[6]The Effect of the Radical-Right Political orientation playsa major role on views of migration. 9 In eight of the ten EU countriessurveyed by Pew research, it was found that those who identified with the politicalright are more concerned about refugees as a threat than those on the politicalleft. 9 This fact was seen moreevidently in France, where 61% of those who place themselves on the politicalright say that refugees are a major threat, compared with only 29% of those onthe left.[7] Furthermore, the third wave of right-wingextremism can be seen as a response to mass immigration and themulticulturalism that comes with this, particulary in Western Europe.[8]Moreover, it is found that immigration plays much less of a role in NorthAmerica and in Central and Eastern Europe, according to Cas Mudde. This can beattributed to how radical-right parties share a core ideology of nativism, authoritarianism,and populism and these three ideological features are closely related to the politicalissues of immigration, crime, and corruption. Proving that immigration aprominent feature of radical-right parties.[9] In the eyes of nativist, radical-rightparties, migration is seen as a direct threat to their countrys nationhood.Case Mudde explains that there are four frames in which West Europeanradical-right parties use in propaganda for their nativist movements.[10]The first being the cultural frame, in which migration is seen as a threat to thecultural homogeneity of the home nation. It can be found that nativists believemigrants are simply unwilling to assimilate into a new culture, which will havean effect on nationhood. Nativists believe that as an influx of migrants entertheir nation; the core of native culture is threatened. [11] Another example to look into, in terms ofthis would be the recent Netherlands general election. This election was framedin the media as a test for anti-immigration sentiment in Europe.[12]This is because major parties in the running have extremely xenophobic andanti-immigration discourses involved with them, such as the Freedom Party. TheFreedom Party moved to ban immigration and asylumseekers from Muslim countries.[13]With all of that beingsaid, the European stance on migration varies among the countries within theEuropean Union. Additionally, the varying reactions of neighbouring countriesto the most recent Netherlands general election aids in proving the politicaldelicacy and complexity of immigration within the European Union.The second frame is on religion. Consideringthat the immigrants seeking refuge in the EU often come from differentreligions (mainly Islam in todays situation), it is often referenced to inarguments by right-wing nativist groups. In this context, it is appropriate tomainly focus on Islam, as this is the religion that is most commonly referencedto by the right. Nativists consider Islam to be a fundamentalist religion andsome leaders even deny the possibility of a moderate Islam.[14]The overall argument is that Muslims threaten key aspects of Western democraciessuch as the equality and gay rights.[15]Additionally, it was found that negative views of refugees tie with negative views of Muslims in 8 of the 10 EU countries surveyed, once again by Pew Research. Those who have a more negative view of Muslims are also much more concerned about the threat they may bring to their country. For example, in the United Kingdom, 80% of those who have an unfavorable opinion of Muslims say refugees leaving Iraq and Syria are a major threat to their country. [16] Furthermore, this research found that majority of Europeans do not view growing diversity as making their countries better. 17 Furthermore, in two nations in particular (Greece and Italy) there were more than half of those surveyed, which said, Increasing diversity makes the country a worse place to live. In contrast, it was found that 58% of Americans believed growing diversity makes the United States a better place to live.[17]The third frame is security. Nativist parties use this argument in saying that immigrants become criminals because they have been uprooted from their natural environment. [1]7 It was also found that many Europeans are concerned with influx of immigrants and that it will increase the likelihood of terrorism for the host nation. Those who voice concern about the prospect of increased terrorism include Hungary (76%) and Poland, (71%) with a median of 59% across 10 EU nations. [18] In Germany, the Netherlands and Italy majority of people also think refugees will increase terrorism in their country. The fourth frame in nativist discourse is economic. In this frame, immigrants are depicted as a financial burden to the host society, as they take jobs away from the natives.[19] This is often combined with the agenda in which welfare programs must only be for the natives of the country. Overall, a median of 50% across the 10 EU countries surveyed in the Pew research study believed that refugees are a burden to society. Nativists believe that the migrants take jobs and social benefits that would have been available to the native citizens without immigration. Alternatively, in Sweden and Germany it was found that majorities say the opposite. In this case, they believe that refugees make their country stronger and provide hard work and talent for their country. North American ComparisonUnlike European Union nations, Canada and the United States are recognized as countries for immigration. This is a key difference between Europe and North America and it plays a role into why immigration is much more of a heated debate and in the forefront of European politics. Countries like Canada and the U.S. accept migrants in large amounts annually, but the difference is that they are prepared to regulate the influx of immigrants. This leads to the annual number of new immigrants to more constant in comparison, which makes it less of a political issue or crisis in comparison to Europe. As mentioned, the North Americanimmigration subject differs from the European one yet, there can be argumentsto prove that some North American countries relate to European nations. Withthat said, the stance on immigration is not identical within the U.S. andCanada, just because they are both North American nations. The topic of illegalimmigration is one that is commonly seen on the United States public agenda.Especially, with the most recent rhetoric of, make America great again,pushing for legislation for the building of a wall on the Mexican-US border,and blatantly pushing to ban Muslims from entering the US. Now, just imagine ifthere was a North American Union, where Canada and the U.S. were memberstates. How much more politically sensitive would the immigration subject be intodays North America if that was the case? Essentially, the varying stances onimmigration by the European Unions member states make it increasinglydifficult for the Union to come to a cohesive consensus.Conclusion Although, there are examples ofsimilarities between Europe and North America, because North America does notoperate through the same hybrid system of supranational and intergovernmental decision-making as the EU, the topicof immigration is one of increased complexity for Europe. The EU acts as thecomprehensive body of its 28 member nations. However, European Union membershave a variety of stances on the immigration subject, which has made for immigrationto be a sensitive topic within the EU. It would be seen as arbitrary to theideals of the European Union if it bans migrants from entering its nations. Havingsaid that, the difficulty with integration and migration is in the nativist andanti-immigration ideologies that are within some European nations. Asmentioned, the Freedom Party, in the Netherlands recent election pushed foranti-immigration and leaving the EU. This is just one example but it works toshow the nativist discourse that is occurring within some EU nations. Conclusively, if the radical-right ideology gains enough support, the response to the migration crisis could to ban immigration. This type of political conversation has already begun to stigmatize immigrants in some way and that may only persist if it takes over in precedence. On the other hand, if the European Union supports immigration, European nations who are against this will want to separate themselves from the EU. This is where the difficulty and sensitivity lies for the European Union. It would be a lot better for the EU to find a solution, in which all of their constituent nations agree upon, however, the rise of the radical-right in some EU member nations has created a discourse of otherness and an overall negative view of migrants. This could lead to have an unfavourable effect on the coherence of the European Union. With all of this considered, it can be concluded that the topic of immigration within the European Union is easily irritable in comparison to North America due to the political makeup of the European Union and the discourse created by the radical right.ReferencesDolezal, Martin, Marc Helbling, and Swen Hutter. Debating Islam In Austria, Germany And Switzerland: Ethnic Citizenship, ChurchState Relations And Right-Wing Populism. 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European Opinions Of The Refugee Crisis In 5 Charts. PewResearch Center. Last modified 2017. Accessed March 21, 2017. http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/09/16/european-opinions-of-the-refugee-crisis-in-5-charts/.[17] Poushter,Jacob. European Opinions Of The Refugee Crisis In 5 Charts. PewResearch Center. Last modified 2017. Accessed March 21, 2017. http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/09/16/european-opinions-of-the-refugee-crisis-in-5-charts/.[18] Poushter,Jacob. European Opinions Of The Refugee Crisis In 5 Charts. PewResearch Center. Last modified 2017. Accessed March 21, 2017. http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/09/16/european-opinions-of-the-refugee-crisis-in-5-charts/.[19] Cas Mudde, The Relationship Between Immigration AndNativism In Europe And North America, Acta Politica, no. 4 (2010).Get Help With Your EssayIf you need assistance with writing your essay, our professional essay writing service is here to help!Find out more
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