A Crisis of Migrants, or a Crisis of European Politics?

• In Event: Illiberalism, Populism, and the 'Crisis' of Migration for Europe

Abstract

The main frame of the “migration crisis” is European politics. Paradoxically, the 2015 migration crisis offered a discursive venue for a “Europeanisation” of French politics. French politics and most importantly the Calais situation became activated by the broader context: Calais is the connection between Europe and France and where the “crisis” can be localized and politicized. Media cycles are driven by European politics. In France, usually migration issues are framed as a domestic issue linked with national identity (especially in populist discourse from the extreme right. The migration crisis is a “test” for Europe and at the same time, the sign of Europeanisation of political issues. The press mainly discusses European governments' attitude towards asymmetric inflows (Germany vs France, Italy or Greece vs others) and issues of European solidarity. Through topic modeling, we illustrate that migration is politicized and portrayed in the French media as a crisis of European institutions and management rather than a humanitarian crisis about people. Aside from topic modeling of newspaper coverage of migration crisis (2008-2023) in French media, this article also compares newspaper framing of dual crises - COVID-19 and migration, and the Ukraine War and migration - in French media, to illustration a crisis not only of French politics but European institutions.

Authors

• Michelle Reddy, University of California Berkeley

• Helene C Thiollet, Sciences Po