It is a paradox that anti-immigration movements, whose key concern is opposing mobility across borders and who advocate isolationism, nationalism and cultural traditionalism, often work transnationally.
The project Reaching Out to Close the Border: The Transnationalization of Anti-Immigration Movements in Europe (Anti-Mig) has today been granted 4-year funding from the VAM programme of the Research Council of Norway.
Congratulations to project leader Kristian Berg Harpviken and his researcher colleague at PRIO, Marta Bivand Erdal. In addition, the project has three external members (see below).
Immigration is seen as a major concern by many Europeans. Simultaneously, opposition to immigration - across the political spectrum - is the issue which most forcefully mobilizes politically.
It is a paradox that anti-immigration movements, whose key concern is opposing mobility across borders and who advocate isolationism, nationalism and cultural traditionalism, often work transnationally, with joint events, strategies and campaigns across borders and in multilateral forums. Anti-Mig studies contemporary European anti-immigration movements, by focusing on
- interaction (forms and consequences),
- framing (political-ideological underpinnings), and
- outcomes (on migration policies).
A comprehensive analytical state-of-the-art framing will be followed by a pilot study to trace transnational outcomes in Europe, five comprehensive studies of most different cases (Germany, Italy, Norway, Poland, UK), and a major synthesizing comparison.
A Methodology Lab, including leading scholars with various specialties, will be engaged to inform the ambitious multi-methods design, with process-tracing as the key methodology aiming for theory development. The main sources of data are surveys, internet (both to map interaction and gather documents), and interviews. The multidisciplinary team of five draws from globally leading research environments on social movements, radicalization, conflict and migration.
Anti-Mig will engage with users in a Practitioners Exchange, from the initial design phase to the ultimate dissemination of findings. Through its platforms for engaging both scholars and users, research communication is an integral part of the project from day one, including an integrated outreach strategy on multiple platforms to reach all relevant audiences. A core ambition of the project is to inspire new projects on transnational anti-immigration mobilization, while also drawing up and generating interest in a new agenda on the contentious governance of migration.
Non-PRIO Project members
- Katrine Fangen (Professor of Sociology and team leader at the Centre for Research on Extremism, C-REX, at the University of Oslo )
- Pietro Castelli Gattinara (Associate Professor, C-REX)
- Aleksandra Lewicki (University of Sussex)
