DISCURSIVE CONSTRUCTION OF AN “ANTI-IMMIGRATION EUROPE” BY THE RIGHT-WING POLITICAL GROUPS IN THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT

Abstract

This study is aimed at understanding and exposing how the European elites, i.e. the members of the right-wing political groups in the EP, use discourses as a means of controlling public discourse, and hence, the public mind. Discourses are used to legitimate the ideology, values and norms of the relevant political groups in the society, which may result in social power abuse, dominance or inequality. The study mainly argues that these political groups discursively construct an anti-immigration Europe during the EP debates within three main discourse topics: immigration as a security threat, as an economic threat and as a cultural threat. Along with some references to Norman Fairclough and Ruth Wodak as well as the Copenhagen School in terms of the securitisation of migration, this study mostly draws on the premises and strategies of Teun A. van Dijk’s socio-cognitive approach of critical discourse analysis to base its arguments. It is seen that the members of the right-wing political groups tend to glorify the Self, i.e. Europe and sometimes their own country, with various positive attributions to them whereas they mostly refer to the Other, i.e. asylum seekers, refugees or migrants, through negative implications, presuppositions, denomination or predication, which is a common attitude of anti-immigration politicians and paves the way for the construction of an anti-immigration Europe. Last but not least, if there is a “refugee crisis”, then, dialectically, the opposite is also possible: “refugee awareness”. This study also aspires to contribute to the formation of “refugee awareness”.

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