ИЗМЕЂУ ИЗАЗОВА И ПРЕТЊЕ – САВРЕМЕНЕ МИГРАЦИЈЕ И ЗАБЛУДЕ КОЈЕ ИХ ПРАТЕ
BETWEEN CHALLENGE AND THREAT – CONTEMPORARY MIGRATIONS AND THE FALLACIES SURROUNDING THEM

Author(s): Milovan R. Subotić
Subject(s): Security and defense, Migration Studies, Asylum, Refugees, Migration as Policy-fields
Published by: Institut za strategijska istraživanja
Keywords: migration; challenge; Europe; security; misconceptions; threat
Summary/Abstract: Engagement in the public (media) sphere has long been regarded as a crucial mechanism for articulating, promoting, and establishing public opinion on the most significant issues - or those designated as such by news transmitters or commissioners. The topic of migration has long transcended the realm of population and demographic studies, assuming dimensions of economic, cultural, and security concerns. In this context, a differentiation in perspectives on this phenomenon has emerged, predominantly marked by a supremacy of negativity and catastrophism, with the potential to interweave these elements into what may be termed a “perfect storm”. There are several principal narratives through which contemporary migration - an inherent challenge - is framed as a risk and a threat, with their hypotheses often presented as “verified” and “definitive” truths. Some of these, which will be the subject of this study, include: “Migration will lead to the Islamization of Europe”; “An increase in migration will lead to a rise in terrorism”; “Migration will negatively impact European economies”; “Migration will equally contribute to the rise of the right-wing in both the Western Balkans and the European Union.” Recognizing the growing trend whereby hyperbolically framed (semi) truths - and, at times, deliberately or inadvertently disseminated falsehoods - resonate even within academic and scientific discourse, this study critically examines each of the aforementioned hypotheses. This paper aims not to categorically refute these constructed “truths” but to provide a balanced academic perspective highlighting specific aspects that call such formulations into question. Further research into these dynamics could shed light on how migration, as a complex social phenomenon, is deeply intertwined with power relations and historical struggles rooted in colonialism, gender, class, and race - factors that often remain implicit yet are deeply embedded in migration discourses and policies. These fundamental issues intersect with the myths under discussion and have profound implications that cannot be fully understood through a strictly positivist lens. Overlooking them risks erasing local and individual narratives that reflect broader systemic trends.

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