This paper seeks to understand policy in the City of New York which limits cooperation with federal authorities for purposes of immigration control. It does so by qualitatively analyzing a set of legal-administrative documents. The key, policy features are identified along with the interests and forces which shaped those features over time. An arsenal of supplemental, legal material as well as the findings of legal scholars are consulted for interpretation in hermeneutic fashion. Using a theoretical framework consisting of the structure of the legal system of the United States and it norms, plus certain immigration-related, national trends, this research concludes this policy is the legacy of an unbroken, bi-partisan lineage of administrations dating back to the 1980s – an evolving product of the tensions between the legal norms and the national trends. The policy reinforces sovereignty from the federal government, and it does so largely for purposes of constitutionality, administrative functionality and civil rights.

In the face of the ‘refugee crisis’ and increased irregular migration flows, EU member states have taken up extraterritorial actions to address their migration problems. This thesis introduces three critical notions; the modern state, the agency of the third states and the agency of the migrant, to create an inclusive framework prior to analysing EU’s extraterritorial management of migration. It then explores the EU’s extraterritorial management of migration by investigating the EU’s relations with four different non-EU states, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Libya, Morocco and Turkey. Throughout the analysis power imbalances between the EU and third states and issues of state sovereignty are brought up. It is argued that the third states see their agency diminished as a result of the EU’s border reaffirmation attempts. Border reaffirmation is done through offshoring responsibility and accountability by providing financial aid and other forms of support to third states. As a result of this form of offshoring, agency of migrants and refugees are also diminished as they have limited agency over their destination and see their rights being abused in the processes of extraterritorialisation of migration management. This thesis underlines the mismatches between the EU’s commitments to human and refugee rights and their actions of extraterritorialisation.

This thesis project is an act of solidarity research with the Berlin based Latin American women’s organization Xochicuicatl. Along the idea that research should be based on the interests and needs of oppressed groups, the research design was developed in cooperation with the organization. The study centers on migration movements between Latin America and the Caribbean and Germany. Moreover, it investigates the dynamics of inner-outer interplay between the organization the beneficiaries and the overall migrant group. The main method isa qualitative content analysis of documents out of the organization’s archive. The organization’s response to transformations is thereby analyzed through action within invited (coping) and invented (resistance) spaces of citizenship. In this regard, the organization’s space is understoodas a subaltern counterpublic which enables a connection between coping and resistance.

In 2015, Sweden was one of the exemplary member states of the European Union that took in a disproportionate number of refugees. Five years later, Sweden has adopted much stricter migration policies restricting access to residence permits and citizenship. The focus has shifted to integration policies aimed at including refugees in the host society. Integration has become widely accepted as a process that is primarily a proactive adaptation and assimilation on the side of the newcomers, rather than a dynamic two-way process. Moreover, this paper argues that integration has largely been reduced to the socio-economic dimension and ignored the sociocultural dimension that is central to the integration process. Using Axel Honneth’s Theory of Recognition as a theoretical base to understand the importance of sociocultural dialogue and interpersonal integration, this paper shines a light on the problematics of current integration policies and its effects. Using empirical research this paper aims to explore the host societies understanding of integration and using Foucauldian discourse analysis the theoretical framework andSaid’s Orientalist critique, expose an underlying power dynamic between host-society and newcomers. Shining light both on governance and socio-cultural dynamics, this paper explores the gap left in sociocultural integration through the lack of dialogue and solidarity has affected the social reality of immigrants in Sweden.

During the last decades, culturally racist parties, like the Sweden Democrats (SD) and the Alterna-tive for Germany (AfD), have seen a rapid growth in popularity and are now represented in parliaments in almost all European countries. Although the majority of their voters are considered white, male, and working class, a growing number of people with a migration background started sup-porting parties of said political stream that frame migration as the biggest threat to society. This thesis aims at understanding the alleged contradiction of individuals that are to different degrees racialized as immigrants becoming members in the SD and AfD. Located within discourses of racial neoliberalism, the study examines how national belonging and subject positions are constructed and contested, and how racist migrant respectability serves as a strategy of overcoming a struggle for belonging to the host society.

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Ahead of the 2023 Greek legislative election and given the emerging political landscape, this paper focuses on how the immigration policy shift of the center-right government emerged from 2019 elections has affected the state of liberal democracy in the country. For that purpose, a case study was employed, based on data extracted from immigration policy reports and governing party’s manifestos. This thesis is relying on theories on the relationship between populism, immigration, and liberal democracies. Applying a theory-confirming case study through a qualitative content analysis facilitates researcher to explore how the immigration policy shift and anti-immigrant populism in Greece challenge the political system’s commitment to liberal democracy since 2019. Examining the case of how populist tendencies crept into immigration politics in Greece, the study tries to contribute to the discussion on how populism influences liberal democracies. The normative assessment of this case in a deductive way contributes to the investigation in a given theoretical framework. The thematic analysis suggests that certain aspects of liberal democracy can be challenged by the populist immigration policy shift in Greece.

The aim of this study is to analyse the discourse surrounding the preservation of the Icelandic language in light of the growing immigrant population in Iceland. This is done by analysing and comparing two public language policies through the lens of Critical Discourse Analysis, more specifically Discourse Historical Approach. This thesis contributes to the academic research on the Icelandic language and its immigrant population by offering a comparative study of a previously unexplored research topic. The findings indicate that there has been a discursive shift from conservative to more progressive attitudes towards the preservation of the Icelandic language, and the connection between language preservation and purification is beginning to weaken. The study shows that immigrants’ role as language users and language preservers is not sufficiently addressed or met, and a more inclusive approach towards the language is needed to facilitate the prosperous growth of a multicultural society and immigrants’ sense of belonging.

This study explores the discourses related to forced migration in the aftermath of disruptive emergencies through a case study of Turkey. 2 devastating earthquakes hit ten provinces on February 6, 2023, with magnitudes of 7.7 and 7.6, and over 50,000 lives were lost In Turkey. 1.7 million refugees were residing in earthquake-affected provinces. The study aims to contribute to the understanding of meaning construction by host community members around refugees in the context of a disruptive emergency, using the Relational Dialectics Theory (RDT 2.0), theory of securitization, and human security to analyze online narratives of the earthquake and refugees. The study adopts a qualitative approach, with a case study design drawing on the method of contrapuntal analysis. This study's findings contribute to understanding the discursive interplay between Securitized Discourse (SD) and Humanizing Discourse (HD) in the aftermath of disruptive emergencies and shed light on the meaning construction by host community members around refugees. Additionally, this study extends the use of Relational Dialectics Theory (RDT 2.0) and the theory of securitization in the analysis of online narratives of crises. The focus of the study is to investigate the different discourses surrounding refugees after disasters, without intending to provide an analysis of the political actions or a moral assessment of the competing discourses. Limitations of the study include the use of online data and a specific platform within a specific time frame.

This thesis aims to contribute to ethical discussions on the production of photography in different humanitarian contexts, and in circumstances where it is facilitated by non-governmental and international non-governmental organisations (I/NGOs). Humanitarian photography is often reproduced and circulated in various forms by different actors, highlighting the need for research on the actions, decisions, and interactions that influence how these images are produced. An extensive literature review captures the many ethical challenges surrounding humanitarian photography and provides an overview of related standards. A conceptual framework is then built around informed consent as an accountability mechanism, with consideration for certain relational and situational factors that influence the quality and effectiveness of the process of obtaining consent. Emphasising photographer and organisational accountability, an analysis of how photographers apply the concept of informed consent and its potential as an accountability mechanism is explored through the case study of embedded photographers in search and rescue (SAR) I/NGO operations in the Mediterranean Sea.     Four semi-structured in-depth interviews were completed with photographers involved in SAR I/NGO missions in the Mediterranean from 2015 to 2021. The interviews suggest that a continuous and deliberate process of individual, organisational, and collaborative self-regulation unfolds throughout a mission, largely through verbal communication and body language, in an effort to obtain consent to take or use images of people who have been rescued. Use of formal means such as written consent forms are only rarely used. Photographs during the rescues were generally taken without prior consent, and photographers’ ability to obtain meaningful subsequent informed consent was easily compromised due to the unpredictable conditions during SAR operations and the variation across I/NGO-photographer partnerships. These findings support the need for further dialogue in this context to ensure that practices and processes related to the production of humanitarian photography, such as obtaining informed consent, are compatible with humanitarian principles, respect the rights and dignity of people affected by crisis, and foster greater accountability.