Prompted by international ramifications of Jewish migration from Nazi Germany, President Franklin D. Roosevelt called a world conference on refugees in March 1938. The conference, held at Evian, France, in July, established the Intergovernmental Committee on Political Refugees. The committee, led by American diplomats, sought relaxation of Germany's discriminatory practices against Jews and tried, without success, to resettle German Jews abroad. World War II ended the committee's efforts to achieve systematic immigration from Germany. The American, British, and German diplomatic papers contain the most thorough chronicle of American involvement in the refugee crisis. Memoirs and presidential public papers provide insight into Roosevelt's motivations for calling the conference. Although efforts to rescue German Jews failed, the refugee crisis introduced Americans to intervention in Europe.

In the autumn of 2015 one of the largest waves of refugees ever occurred in Europe. Sweden was the country that received the second highest number of refugees, which led to significant changes in Swedish refugee policy as an effort to reduce the number. This highlighted an issue; Has Sweden become less attractive as a country to immigrate to? The thesis analyses whether Sweden has potentially become less attractive as a country to seek refuge in after the implementation of the stricter refugee policy in 2015. This case study uses a theory-consuming research design and a qualitative content analysis as a method. The analytical model used in the study is the push and pull model, as this model in connection with the empirical material deals with how Sweden's changed refugee policy influences the Swedish pull factors. This qualitative study shows that the changes in the refugee policy does not affect the incentive structure much as only two pull factors, social rights and political stability, are affected by the changes in refugee policy.

Studies of why political parties in Sweden motivated their change of statements and policies during the refugee crisis in 2015 have been limited. I argue that it is relevant to question Swe- den’s traditional image as an open and generous country towards refugees. A change of policies took place within the traditional refugee friendly political parties in Sweden. Therefore, this thesis helps explain context for changes in the policies of the Green and Left parties during the refugee crisis 2015 in Sweden. It outlines the different policy outcomes between the Green and the Left parties and explains why two parties with initially similar positions concerning refugee issues became so markedly divided in a time of crisis. In this study, both quantitative and qual- itative methods involving content analysis and semi-structured interview techniques have been used in order to examine to what extent a change of reasoning led to different policy outcomes for the Left and Green parties. Interviews were used to gain deeper knowledge about each party’s approach towards refugees during Fall of 2015. Studies on Swedish refugee policies during the refugee crisis 2015 have either focused on 1) how refugees have been framed in news media and by politicians and 2) the socio-economic effects refugees have on Sweden because of badly managed integration policies. Less focus has been placed on how social economic reconstruction (proactive planning that allows groups from below to organize their resources) can become a powerful tool for political parties to provide solution-oriented refugee policies. Considering this unexplored area, this study analyses the Green and Left Parties’ refugee policies and how they developed during the refugee crisis by 2015. The research questions therefore relate to the change of policies of the Green and Left parties related to concepts such as solidarity and compassion for refugees and the need for greater restrictions on the number of refugees coming to Sweden through scarcity reduction and shifting budgets. The conclusion is that during the crisis, the concept of solidarity towards refugees was being tested and the debate mainly focused on quick solutions to the current crisis by restricting the number of asylum seekers through stricter laws. In contrast, policy discourse did not engage investments in solution-oriented policies with long run benefits, e.g. improving the efficiency of labor market policies to facilitate new arrivals’ labor market entry and social inclusion.

Sexual and Gender-Based Violence constitutes one of the major protection concerns in displacement settings, being the current Syrian crisis in Lebanon no exception. This has led international and Lebanese humanitarian actors to design and implement prevention and response programmes country-wide to ensure the protection of persons of concern. Yet, gender-related programmes seem to maintain a traditional approach which focuses disproportionately on women and girls. As for SGBV programmes, while women and girls do constitute the bulk of SGBV survivors, such traditional approach overlooks the need of other groups concerned by any gender and SGBV-related interventions. This holds especially true to men and boys, whose engagement in SGBV programming is still conceived in silos, usually included in prevention programmes in their role as perpetrators. Working with men and boys survivors is not widespread and there is no consistent attempt to involve men across all stages in programmes. With no aim to compromise the much needed interventions with women and girls, this Master’s thesis aims at exploring an enhanced men-inclusive approach to SGBV programmes through the exploration of a tool called the men’s lens. By analyzing how Syrian refugee men’s own masculinities and manhood and their linkages to their social positioning influence the emergence of SGBV, this Master’s thesis explores the feasibility of such approach through interviews and a set of recommendations to humanitarian actors in Lebanon. As such, the thesis contributes to bringing together academia and the humanitarian realm, contextualising the men’s lens to the reality on the ground. This includes the adoption of a practical focus on the intertwinement between SGBV, masculinities and intersectionality among Syrian refugees in Lebanon, with the ultimate goal of contributing to improving current SGBV programmes in the Syria crisis.

In the last few years, migration towards Europe has intensified as a result of poverty and war in other parts of the world. Now, the European Union finds itself in a “refugee crisis” that has brought about contrasting reactions from within European societies. While many civil society organizations have mobilized for the inclusion of asylum seekers and undocumented migrants, governments have increasingly focused on restricting access and limiting their numbers. This study seeks to understand and explain the role of civil society in the refugee crisis. To this end, citizenship and framing theories are applied to the case of the Swedish Red Cross. Specific “acts of citizenship” carried out by the Red Cross in Sweden, and in Europe more generally, are analyzed. The study’s findings suggest that this civil society organization/movement acts as both a “denationalizing” (Sassen 2002) and a “post-nationalizing” (Bosniak 2006) force as it pushes the boundaries of citizenship from within and beyond the borders of the nation-state. It does this by calling upon international humanitarian and human rights laws and principles and by positioning itself inside and outside the political system at the same time.

面對此次難民危機的挑戰，歐盟無法團結一致推行共同的難民庇護政策，反而造成各國內鬨爭端；整體而言，歐洲各國的難民庇護政策大致呈現緊縮的態勢，於此，本文試圖進一步探索：什麼因素促使反難民情緒逐漸高漲，進而影響難民庇護政策轉趨緊縮？其中，又有哪些面向對政策轉變具有顯著的效果？本文以德國、法國與奧地利為研究個案，聚焦國內經濟、文化與安全三大面向，試圖理解衝擊人民心理與情緒的社會焦慮，並提供一項更細緻的觀察與解釋。 本文發現，此次難民危機前，焦慮因子早已深埋各國社會之中，人民的經濟不安全感在歐債危機與撙節政策的衝擊下日漸加深，同時各國社會也為日益加劇的種族緊張關係所苦，而此兩項經濟與文化的焦慮因子是生成反難民社會焦慮的關鍵因素。難民危機期間，大批難民湧入衝擊人民的心理與情緒，不僅誘發並催化經濟與文化的焦慮因子，同時也帶來安全上的擔憂與威脅，催化各國的反難民社會焦慮，進而使各國的難民庇護政策轉趨緊縮。 / Faced with the refugee crisis, the EU had not only failed to come up with a common asylum strategy, but been plagued by increasing disputes among its Member States. The asylum policy of individual states had, in general, become more and more restrictive as the refugee crisis intensified. In order to understand the domestic factors contributing to the surge of anti-refugee sentiments, I take Germany, France and Austria as the cases and examine the dynamic developments of anti-refugee sentiments as well as the restriction-oriented asylum policy reforms that followed. The existence of the agents of societal anxiety in European countries predated the refugee crisis. Prior to the European debt crisis, the sense of economic insecurity was already palpable. The implementation of austerity policies greatly enhanced this sense of insecurity. Meanwhile, ethnic tensions or even conflicts were chronic in western European countries. These two agents of societal anxiety turned out to be significant factors in explaining the surge of anti-refugee sentiments. Furthermore, during the crisis, the sudden mass influx of refugees also had an impact on people’s perceptions and sentiments. Not only did it trigger the economic and cultural agents of societal anxiety, but also brought about the perceived security threat as well. Eventually, the anti-refugee sentiments, catalyzed and reinforced by these dynamics, contributed to restrictive asylum policy reforms.

The so-called refugee crisis was among the most significant events affecting European political and social structures during the previous decade. Previous research proves that the questions regarding refugee reception had instigated a rise of ethno-nationalistic and exclusionary sentiments across Europe. The Polish context has been a clear example. This study aims to analyze the ways in which Polish media produced and reproduced the discourse pertaining to the refugee crisis and subsequently the perceived representation of refugees. Based on the review of literature and theories of discourse, mediatization, politicization and Othering, selected mainstream media articles from 2014 to 2017 were analyzed. The findings illustrate that an exclusionary discourse and Islamophobic notions were prevalent during this period. Moreover, the results indicate that a discursive shift regarding the representation of refugees has occurred, significantly altering the manner in which Polish society perceives both refugees and the refugee crisis more generally.

The aim of this thesis is to analyze the process of securitization of immigration and multiculturalism within the framework of migration, immigration and integration policies focusing on the case of Germany. Using the migration-security nexus as a primary theoretical foundation, I argue that within the policies and legislations related to immigration, German governments ultimately perceive immigration as a threat at the level of state security as well as Germany's national identity. The first government I have selected for my analysis is the cabinet led by Gerhard Schröder (1998 - 2005) who challenged the romanticized perception of the German nation as a "nation of descent" by saying that "Germany is a country of immigration." Secondly, I focus on the chancellorship of Angela Merkel whose approach toward the Syrian asylum seekers in the context of the current migration crisis (9/2015 - 11/2016) has been called "Wilkommenskutlur" (or "Welcome culture"). Nonetheless, by studying the policies related to immigration as well as governments' discourses, I argue that in both cases, immigration and multiculturalism are indeed linked to security issues. Hence, immigrants are perceived as a threat to Germany's national security and its identity.

This master's thesis examines the image of the Czech Republic that the German media promote in the context of the European migration crisis. For this purpose, articles from three German daily newspapers dating from 2015 until 2016 were examined. The research was carried out on 186 articles using quantitative content analysis and constant comparative method. Throughout the research the information on when and how the media wrote about the Czech Republic were gathered. In the context of the European migration crisis a recurring image of the Czech Republic was created mainly through the EU perspective, along with the other members of the Visegrad Group. For its rejecting position of the European solution for the crisis, which was supported by Germany, the image of the Czech Republic is rather negative and the state is denounced for lacking. The German media coverage of the Czech Republic was strongly politicized and embodied by politicians. The results of the research can provide an overview of the perception of the Czech Republic by Germany during the European migration crisis. The results can contribute to further research on this current topic as well.

This Master Thesis called "The Securitization of Immigration. An Assessment of the Extent of Securitization of Immigration in the German Political Discourse in the aftermath of the 2015 European Refugee Crisis" aims to identify the influence of the 2015 European refugee crisis on the German political discourse in reference to immigration and asylum. Since immigration became one of the greatest security concerns in the post-Cold War era, it appears plausible that the unprecedented high-numbers of asylum applications in 2015/16 triggered securitization in Germany. This impression is reinforced in reference to the increasing popularity of the anti-Islam, far-right PEGIDA movement and the right-wing populist party AfD. However, the merely welcoming attitude towards refugees among the German population, which attracted attention all over the world, challenges the securitization thesis, because the political discourse is assumed to be oriented towards public opinion. Thus, the political discourse in the aftermath of the 2015 European Refugee Crisis is assumed to be torn between fear (securitization discourse) and optimism (humanitarian discourse) in regard to immigration and asylum. By conducting a discourse analysis, contextualized speech-acts based on a generic structure used by Holger Stritzel were...