Leiden University Student Repository

Pippel, Aaltje Dirkje (2018)

The Securitization of Migration in The European Parliament: The Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party

Master thesis | International Relations (MA)

Migration is an opportunity for Europe: an opportunity to increase economic and cultural development. This claim is made by the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE), a liberal party in the European Parliament. The ALDE claim to view migration as an advantage and not as a security threat, a view that xenophobic populistic parties in the European Parliament do have. There is a significant amount of academic research focused on the securitization of migration and the role of right-wing parties in the securitization process. However, research on the role of politically moderate parties in the securitization process is limited. That is why this thesis focuses on the ALDE. It seeks to examine the relation between centrist parties in the European Parliament and securitization theory by exploring how the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe securitized migration between 2011 and 2017.

Migration

ALDE

European Union

Discourse Analysis

Securitization Theory

Author

Pippel, Aaltje Dirkje

Faculty

Faculty of Humanities

Specialisation

Global Conflict in the Modern Era

Supervisors

Erlichman, C.

ECTS Credits

15

Language

en