Over the past few years, European countries have faced one of the most defining challenges since the beginning of the 21st century, the European migration crisis. The European migration crisis...Show moreOver the past few years, European countries have faced one of the most defining challenges since the beginning of the 21st century, the European migration crisis. The European migration crisis started in 2015 after a large number of migrants fled from danger and instability and asked for asylum in Europe. The debate about the incoming migrants has caused a lot of disagreement amongst European member states on how to deal with this challenge. Some member states of the European Union but also European citizens, see migrants as a threat towards their ‘own’ nations, even though numbers are declining. The securitisation theory can explain this perception towards migrants. Since, the theory takes into account that political leaders/parties can construct an issue, like migration, into a security threat. This thesis addresses the theory of securitising migration and how political parties have used the theory on a national level, in the Netherlands, and in particular one party. Therefore, this thesis will analyse the research question “To what extent has the PVV used the securitisationof migration - in response to the European migration crisis - as a political tool within their policies?” In order to understand the relationship between the securitisation of migration and the Dutch right-wing party the PVV. This thesis first aims to provide a discussion on how the PVV constructed the issue of migration into a security threat and later will analyse how this impacted or is related to different policy areas. It will do this by using a qualitative method of a discourse analysis on three different policy areas: the welfare state, European integration and the Dutch health care system. In doing so this thesis hopes to identify to what extent the PVV has used the securitisation of migration as a political tool for their own electoral gain.Show less
