The refugee reception crisis in Europe - Polarized opinions and mobilizations

The refugee question occupied centre stage at every political debate in Europe since 2015. Starting from the “long summer of migration”, the polarization of opinions and attitudes towards asylum seekers among citizens of the European Union has grown increasingly. The divergence between hospitality and hostility has become evident in political reactions as well.

The focus of this book is on this polarization, on the positive and negative attitudes, representations and practices, as well as on the interactions, at the local level, between majority populations and asylum seekers in the context of the 2015–18 reception crisis.

This book has three objectives. First, it intends to examine public opinion towards asylum seekers and refugees through a European cross-national perspective.

Second, it explains the public opinion polarization by focusing on pro- and anti-migrant mobilization, and investigating the practices of hospitality and hostility in local communities.

The third objective is to understand asylum seekers’ and refugees’ own perceptions of receiving countries and their asylum systems. These issues are specifically debated in the Belgian case. The other national case studies include Germany, Sweden, Hungary, Greece and Italy, and have been chosen based on preliminary research on the policy system, public opinion, and geopolitical position.

This book represents the main output of the research project entitled “Public opinion, mobilizations and policies concerning asylum seekers and refugees in anti-immigrant times (Europe and Belgium)” supported by the Belgian Science Policy Office (BELSPO/BRAIN-be).