Politicized Transnationalism: The Visegrád Countries in the Refugee Crisis

Publikation: Beiträge in ZeitschriftenZeitschriftenaufsätzeForschungbegutachtet

Authors

Existing research on the evolution of European integration has pitted economic against identity issues. In the economic sphere, governments are arguably able to pursue their preferences more independently. If, however, identity issues become politicized this is supposed to suggest that governments lose their dominant position in integration and gradually become agents of Eurosceptic parties and/or electorates. This article looks at a phenomenon neither the intergovernmentalist nor the postfunctionalist perspective can fully explain: the emergence of the Visegrád Group (V4) as a collective actor in European politics in early 2016. This emergence occurred in the wake of the refugee crisis during which the identity issue of migration was politicized. However, there was no coherent partisan composition uniting V4 governments. Based on a sequence elaboration of all press statements of meetings of the V4 Prime Ministers since their EU-accession in 2004, we show that what at first sight appears to be informed by anti-immigrant and Eurosceptic sentiments may in fact display a more ambivalent position towards regional integration. The post-refugee crisis V4 appears as a case of politicized transnationalism—that is, cooperation to achieve transnational interests under the condition of politicization. This transnational interest not only comprised opposition to a relocation of migrants, but also the maintenance of a core transnational freedom within the EU, namely free movement under the Schengen acquis. We conclude that, under the condition of increasing politicization, identity issues help to forge government alliances of governments pursuing economic preferences.
Titel in ÜbersetzungPolitisierter Transnationalismus: Die Visegrád-Länder in der Flüchtlingskrise
OriginalspracheEnglisch
ZeitschriftPolitics and Governance
Jahrgang8
Ausgabenummer1
Seiten (von - bis)95-106
Anzahl der Seiten12
ISSN2183-2463
DOIs
PublikationsstatusErschienen - 13.02.2020

Bibliographische Notiz

Funding Information:
We acknowledge support by the Open Access Publication Funds of the SLUB/TU Dresden and we wish to thank the academic editors and the anonymous reviewers of this thematic issue for their extremely helpful comments on our manuscript. The usual disclaimer applies.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 by the author.

DOI

Zuletzt angesehen

Publikationen

  1. Polizei und Rassismus: Konsolidierung eines neuen Forschungsbereiches?
  2. Tools zur Stärkung der organisationalen Gesundheitskompetenz in Einrichtungen der Gesundheitsversorgung
  3. #Knowyourworth: How influencers commercialise meaningful work
  4. George Bell’s relations to the German evangelical church and the problem of information
  5. Gütermarktorientiertes Umweltmanagement
  6. Other-regarding preferences, spousal disability and happiness
  7. Lehramtsstudium Sozialpädagogik
  8. The course of research into the economic consequences of German works councils
  9. Editorial
  10. Zur (Un-)Bedeutsamkeit der Ökonomisierung. Eine Differenzierung des Einflusses ökonomischer Logiken auf Akteur:innen der stationären Kinder- und Jugendhilfe
  11. Projekt "Gender Greenstreaming"
  12. Mystery shopping
  13. Globales Lernen und Biodiversität in der außerschulischen Bildung in Deutschland
  14. Auswahlbibliographie Games
  15. Kulturen und Sozialtechnologien der Fertilität
  16. Nachhaltige Entwicklung durch Bildung
  17. Herausforderungen der Demokratie
  18. Briefe aus dem 20. Jahrhundert
  19. Reichweitenangst
  20. Do chief sustainability officers and CSR committees influence CSR-related outcomes?
  21. Effekte einer freiwilligen Mitgliedschaft in Berufsverbänden auf das Einkommen
  22. Emotional benefits in saturated markets
  23. Die Zweite Kopernikanische Wende
  24. Der Konflikt zwischen Klima- und Naturschutz bei der energetischen Verwendung von Waldrestholz
  25. Philosophische Bildung (in) der Öffentlichkeit
  26. Rainer Mühlhoff: Immersive Macht. Affekttheorie nach Spinoza und Foucault
  27. Die Übersetzung von Bildern
  28. Indicated Prevention