Negotiating National Identity

German Intellectuals Debate the 2015 Migrant Influx

Bibliographic Data

ID3969865
AuthorsSabina Matthay (Essener Straße 11, 10555 Berlin, Germany, corresponding author)
Year2017
Volume22
Issue7-8
Pages769-778
Publication date2017-11-17
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueThe European Legacy (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1084-8770 • E-ISSN: 1470-1316
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/10848770.2017.1370920
OpenAlexW2755477277
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited20

From the summer of 2015 onwards the high influx of migrants and its effects have dominated the public debate in Europe. At first this influx posed mainly an administrative challenge in host countries such as Austria, Germany, and Sweden. Yet the seemingly incessant flow of migrants from Africa, Asia, and the Middle East, seeking refuge from war or economic deprivation, soon sparked a heated controversy on the (im-)possibility of integrating people from very different cultural and religious backgrounds into European societies. Security concerns following the Paris attacks of November 2015 fuelled support for right-wing parties and extremist movements all over Europe. Meanwhile, one EU member state after another introduced restrictive policies contravening the open border policy introduced by the Schengen Agreement (1995) in their attempt to shift the administrative burden of handling the migrant crisis onto neighbouring states. The growing anxiety around questions of identity and security was compounded by growing concerns about the economy and welfare. In this essay I delineate the role played by public intellectuals in the debate about this crisis. Drawing on Richard Posner’s broad definition of a public intellectual as someone who writes knowledgeably about ideas for a popular audience on matters of public concern, I focus on how German public intellectuals debated the questions of national identity and the role of the nation-state in the EU migration crisis

Economics · European union · German · Immigration · National identity · Negotiation · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Public opinion · Sociology · Welfare state · European Union Policy and Governance · German legal, social, and political studies · History · Law · Migration, Refugees, and Integration