The New Europe

Xenophobia and the Politics of Fear

Based on Taras, Ray. 2008. Europe Old and New: Transnationalism, Belonging, Xenophobia. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.

Reading: Chapter 4, “The Politics of Phobias” and Chapter “European Publics and their Phobias.”

Xenophobia

What does it mean?

Xeno = foreigner

Phobia = fear of

Xenophobia

A psychological condition

Presence of foreigners seen as a threat to group identity

The Political Effects of Xenophobia?

Why does it matter?

1. Public policy – what kinds of public policies are most likely to be affected by a rise in xenophobia?

2. Public order/security– what is the impact on public order/security?

3. Political organizations – how does an increase in xenophobia affect the platforms of political parties? What kinds of new political parties/movements does it spawn?

4. EU level – European Monitoring Center on Racism and Xenophobia, now the Agency for Fundamental Rights

Why, according to Taras, has xenophobia cropped up in Europe in recent years?

Taras Reasons

1. scale

for every 1% increase in percentage of non-EU foreigners in a country, those saying immigration is a big problem increase by 9.9%! (93)

“the rise of xenophobia is nearly synonymous with anti-immigrant backlash (93)

2. Time/permanence

“the real bias against non-Europeans increases the longer they live in Europe” (93)

**Far-away locals

permanent outsiders

3. immigrant assertiveness

demands for cultural autonomy, accommodation

rather than assimilation

Additional Reasons:

1. pressures to retrench welfare state

changing demographics, economic restructuring

2. globalization

rise of neo-liberalism, competition in global economy

Measuring Xenophobia in Europe

How racist/xenophobic are Europeans?

1. Perception that foreigners are much more numerous than they actually are

2. 15% say presence of people of other nationalities is disturbing (91)

3. Groups viewed most unfavorably:

Turks, N Africans, Asians

Most Favorably:

N Europeans, S Europeans

German MEPs named E Europeans as least desirable migrants

Greek MEPs named Turks

4. Some European elites express “xenophilia” to compensate

esp. political elites

5. Anti-semitism and xenophobia in former E bloc countries

Greater? Different? Why?

Anti-Semitism: History of

Jan Gross, Neighbors

Racism: Lack experience with foreigners in significant numbers

Anti-Eastern/anti-Russian biases

Xenophobia (esp of those from East) has increased

as result of economic competition of economic transformation