Ett öppet eller slutet Europa. En diskursanalys av EU:s flykting- och invandringspolitik

Sammanfattning: This thesis focuses on the perception of immigration and refugees in the common European refugee and immigration policy. It identifies different discourses and studies their development and interrelated power structures. Using the discourse theory of Laclau and Mouffe, documents from the European Council, the Commission, the Justice and Home Affairs Council and Parliament debates are analysed. The study is defined in the time span of 1999- 2006, i.e. from the European Council's first agreement on developing a common European asylum system, following the period up till today. Four discourses are distinguished, focusing respectively on rights, security, European Union's needs, and cultural identity. I use Sandra Lavenex theory of realism and idealism to analyse one of the main points in the thesis: There is a fundamental schism between the one rights-based discourse, focusing on universal human rights, and the three sharing a particularistic focus on immigration as a security concern. Jef Huysmans security theory is applied to the dominating discourses to thoroughly illustrate the various ways the discourses construct immigration as a security problem. The result of the study shows a development towards a more security focused and particularistic perception in the common refugee and immigration policy, leading towards more restrictive policies.