Sociologický časopis / Czech Sociological Review 2023, 59(3): 269-291 | DOI: 10.13060/csr.2023.003

The Legitimacy of European Union Migration and Asylum Policy among the Czech Public

Jan Krotký ORCID..., Bernadette Nadya Jaworsky ORCID..., Petr Kaniok ORCID...
Faculty of Social Studies, Masaryk University, Brno

In this study, we contribute to scholarly work on European Union (EU) legitimacy with regard to migration and asylum policy. We do so through an in-depth exploration of the relationship between attitudes towards the EU and migration among the Czech public. Even though there is a body of literature focusing on this topic, there is a gap when it comes to understanding its complexities, especially concerning 'pro-immigrant' and 'pro-European' positions. We bring a cultural-sociological perspective on meaning-making processes into conversation with theories on the legitimacy of the EU, an analytical move that helps us reveal the nuances in attitudes towards the EU and migration. Our results unpack the narratives surrounding the EU and migration and highlight the apparent cleavage between the 'pro-immigrant' and 'anti-immigrant' discourses that underpin migration attitudes among the Czech public. We find that notwithstanding some divisiveness, there exists considerable convergence along the three dimensions of legitimacy: input, output and throughput. Indeed, both camps challenge EU legitimacy, but they do so for different reasons and focus on different dimensions. The output aspect of EU legitimacy is the most problematic and criticised within both types of discourse. The input dimension is problematic only within the 'anti-immigrant' discourse, and the throughput dimension of EU legitimacy is rather neglected within both discourses. In empirical terms, these findings imply that, in the eyes of the Czech public, the EU-even for those who accept it as a legitimate actor with regard to asylum and migration policy-fails to deliver satisfactory results.

Keywords: EU attitudes, migration attitudes, legitimacy, cultural sociology, narratives

Received: January 19, 2022; Revised: October 24, 2022; Accepted: January 5, 2023; Prepublished online: February 23, 2023; Published: August 17, 2023  Show citation

ACS AIP APA ASA Harvard Chicago Chicago Notes IEEE ISO690 MLA NLM Turabian Vancouver
Krotký, J., Nadya Jaworsky, B., & Kaniok, P. (2023). The Legitimacy of European Union Migration and Asylum Policy among the Czech Public. Sociologický časopis / Czech Sociological Review, 59(3), 269-291. doi: 10.13060/csr.2023.003
Share...
Download citation
  • BibTeX (.bib)
  • Bookends (.ris)
  • EasyBib (.ris)
  • EndNote (.enw)
  • EndNote 8 (.xml)
  • ISI WoS (.isi)
  • Medlars (.medlars)
  • Mendeley (.ris)
  • MODS (.xml)
  • Papers (.ris)
  • RefWorks (.txt)
  • RefManager (.ris)
  • RIS (.ris)
  • MS Word (.xml)
  • Zotero (.ris)
    • Open full article

    Attachments

    Download fileKrotky_et-al_OnlineAppendix.pdf

    File size: 79.53 kB

    References

    1. Alexander, J. C., & Smith, P. (2003). The Strong Program in Cultural Sociology: Elements of a Structural Hermeneutics. In J. C. Alexander (Ed.), The Meanings of Social Life (pp. 11-26). Oxford University Press. Go to original source...
    2. Beetham, D., & Lord, C. (1998). Legitimacy and the European Union. Ashley, Wesley, Longman.
    3. Braun, M. (2020). Postfunctionalism, Identity and the Visegrad Group. JCMS: Journal of Common Market Studies, 58(4), 925-940. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcms.12994 Go to original source...
    4. Buzan, B., Wæver, O., & de Wilde, J. (1998). Security: A New Framework for Analysis. Lynne Rienner.
    5. Čaněk, M. (2013). Od vstřícné důslednosti k nepřizpůsobivým imigrantům? Analýza tématu mezinárodní migrace v programech politických stran před volbami do Poslanecké sněmovny. [From accommodating consistency to maladapted immigrants? Analysis of the topic of international migration in the programs of political parties before the elections to the Chamber of Deputies.] Multikulturní centrum Praha. Retrieved Jan. 16,
    6. 2022, from https://migraceonline.cz/cz/e-knihovna/od-vstricne-duslednosti-k-neprizpusobivym-imigrantum-analyza-tematu-mezinarodni-migrace-v-programechpolitickych-stran-pred
    7. Carrera, S., & den Hertog, L. (2016). A European Border and Coast Guard: What's in A Name? (CEPS Paper in Liberty and Security in Europe NO. 88). Retrieved June 17, 2022, from https://www.ceps.eu/ceps-publications/european-border-and-coast-guard-whatsname/
    8. Çetin, R. A. (2020). Externalization of the European Union Migration Regime: The Case of Turkey. New Political Science, 42(4), 538-557. https://doi.org/10.1080/07393148.2020.1848341 Go to original source...
    9. Chouliaraki, L., & Zaborowski, R. (2017). Voice and Community in the 2015 Refugee Crisis: A Content Analysis of News Coverage in Eight European Countries. The International Communication Gazette, 79(6-7), 613-635. https://doi.org/10.1177/1748048517727173 Go to original source...
    10. Crespy, A. (2013). Deliberative Democracy and the Legitimacy of the European Union: A Reappraisal of Conflict. Political Studies, 62(1_suppl), 81-98. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9248.12058 Go to original source...
    11. Csehi, R., & Zgut, E. (2021). 'We Won't Let Brussels Dictate Us': Eurosceptic Populism in Hungary and Poland. European Politics and Society, 22(1), 53-68. https://doi.org/10.1080/23745118.2020.1717064 Go to original source...
    12. de Vreese, C. H., & Boomgaarden, H. G. (2005). Projecting EU Referendums - Fear of Immigration and Support for European Integration. European Union Politics, 6(1), 59-82. https://doi.org/10.1177/1465116505049608 Go to original source...
    13. de Vries, L. A., & Guild, E. (2019). Seeking Refuge in Europe: Spaces of Transit and the Violence of Migration Management. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 45(12), 2156-2166. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369183X.2018.1468308 Go to original source...
    14. Duszczyk, M., Podgórska, K., & Pszczółkowska, D. (2020). From Mandatory to Voluntary. Impact of V4 on the EU Relocation Scheme. European Politics and Society, 21(4), 470-487. https://doi.org/10.1080/23745118.2019.1672367 Go to original source...
    15. Eurobarometer. (2021). Standard Eurobarometer 95. Spring 2021. European Commission, September. Retrieved Jan. 16, 2022, from https://europa.eu/eurobarometer/surveys/detail/2532
    16. Eurostat. (2021, August 4). Asylum Statistics. European Commission. Retrieved Jan. 16, 2022, from https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=Asylum_statistics#Number_of_asylum_applicants:_decrease_in_2020
    17. Every, D. (2013). 'Shame on You': The Language, Practice and Consequences of Shame and Shaming in Asylum Seeker Advocacy. Discourse & Society, 24(6), 667-686. https://doi.org/10.1177/0957926513486223 Go to original source...
    18. Ferreira, V. S. (2014). Arts and Tricks of Comprehensive Interview. Saúde e Sociedade, 23, 979-992. Go to original source...
    19. Follesdal, A., & Hix, S. (2006). Why There is a Democratic Deficit in the EU: A Response to Majone and Moravcsik. JCMS: Journal of Common Market Studies, 44(3), 533-562. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-5965.2006.00650.x Go to original source...
    20. Frye, N. (1957). Anatomy of Criticism: Four Essays. Princeton University Press. Go to original source...
    21. Geertz, C. (1973). Interpretation of Cultures: Selected Essays. Basic Books.
    22. Genschel, P., & Jachtenfuchs, M. (2018). From Market Integration to Core State Powers: The Eurozone Crisis, the Refugee Crisis and Integration Theory. JCMS: Journal of Common Market Studies, 56(1), 178-196. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcms.12654 Go to original source...
    23. Griebel, T., & Vollmann, E. (2019). We Can('t) Do This. A Corpus-Assisted Critical Discourse Analysis of Migration in Germany. Journal of Language and Politics, 18(5), 671-697. https://doi.org/10.1075/jlp.19006.gri Go to original source...
    24. Hanzlová, R. (2018, November 9). Postoj české veřejnosti k přijímání uprchlíků - říjen 2018. [Attitude of the Czech public towards the reception of refugees - October 2018.] Public Opinion Research Center. Retrieved Jan. 16, 2022, from https://cvvm.soc.cas.cz/cz/tiskove-zpravy/politicke/mezinarodni-vztahy/4749-postoj-ceske-verejnosti-k-prijimani-uprchliku-rijen-2018
    25. Harteveld, E., Schaper, J., De Lange, S. L., & Van Der Brug, W. (2018). Blaming Brussels? The Impact of (News about) the Refugee Crisis on Attitudes towards the EU and National Politics. JCMS: Journal of Common Market Studies, 56(1), 157-177. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcms.12664 Go to original source...
    26. Hase, J. (2021). Repetition, Adaptation, Institutionalization-How the Narratives of Political Communities Change. Ethnicities, 21(4), 684-705. https://doi.org/10.1177/1468796820987311 Go to original source...
    27. Hloušek, V., & Kaniok, P. (2014). Strategic or Identity-Based Euroscepticism? The Euro Discourse of Vaclav Klaus. Romanian Journal of Political Science 14(1), 35-60.
    28. Hloušek, V., & Kaniok, P. (2020). Czech Republic. In V. Hloušek & P. Kaniok (Eds.), The European Parliament Election of 2019 in East-Central Europe: Second-Order Euroscepticism (pp. 61-82). Palgrave Macmillan. Go to original source...
    29. Hobolt, S. B. (2016). The Brexit Vote: A Divided Nation, a Divided Continent. Journal of European Public Policy, 23(9), 1259-1277. https://doi.org/10.1080/13501763.2016.1225785 Go to original source...
    30. Hooghe, L., & Marks, G. (2018). Cleavage Theory Meets Europe's Crises: Lipset, Rokkan, and the Transnational Cleavage. Journal of European Public Policy, 25(1), 109-135. https://doi.org/10.1080/13501763.2017.1310279 Go to original source...
    31. Hrabálek, M., & Đorđević, V. (2017). The 'Heretic' Debate on European Asylum Quotas in the Czech Republic: A Content Analysis. Kontakt, 19(4), 321-328. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.kontakt.2017.09.010 Go to original source...
    32. Jaworsky, B. N. (2021). The 'Thirteenth Immigrant'? Migration and Populism in the 2018 Czech Presidential Election. In J. C. Alexander, P. Kivisto & G. Sciortino (Eds.), The Civil Sphere and Populism (pp. 152-157). Polity Press.
    33. Jaworsky, B. N., & Krotký, J. (2021). 'A Brother Is More than a Neighbour': Symbolic Boundary Work in Czech Pro-Migration Discourse. European Journal of Cultural and Political Sociology, 8(3), 329-354. https://doi.org/10.1080/23254823.2021.1942115 Go to original source...
    34. Jaworsky, B. N., Klvaňová, R., Retiova, A., Rapoš Božič, I. & Krotký, J. (2023). A Critical, Cultural Sociological Exploration of Attitudes toward Migration in Czechia: What Lies Beneath the Fear of the Thirteenth Migrant. Lexington Books. Go to original source...
    35. Kovář, J. (2020). A Security Threat or an Economic Consequence? An Analysis of the News Framing of the European Union's Refugee Crisis. International Communication Gazette, 82(6), 564-587. https://doi.org/10.1177/1748048519832778 Go to original source...
    36. Krotký, J. (2019). When Migration Unites Political Parties: The Securitisation of Migration in Czech Party Manifestos. Czech Journal of Political Science, 26(4), 181-199. https://doi.org/10.5817/PC2019-3-181 Go to original source...
    37. Krotký, J., & Kaniok, P. (2021). Who Says What: Members of the European Parliament and Irregular Migration in the Parliamentary Debates. European Security, 30(2), 178-196. https://doi.org/10.1080/09662839.2020.1842362 Go to original source...
    38. Lee, J.-S., & Nerghes, A. (2018). Refugee or Migrant Crisis? Labels, Perceived Agency, and Sentiment Polarity in Online Discussions. Social Media + Society, 4(3), 1-22. https://doi.org/10.1177/2056305118785638 Go to original source...
    39. Lindgren, K.-O., & Persson, T. (2010). Input and Output Legitimacy: Synergy or Trade-Off? Empirical evidence from an EU survey. Journal of European Public Policy, 17(4), 449-467. https://doi.org/10.1080/13501761003673591 Go to original source...
    40. Majone, G. (1998). Europe's 'Democratic Deficit': The Question of Standards. European Law Journal, 4(1), 5-28. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-0386.00040 Go to original source...
    41. Messing, V., & Ságvári, B. (2019). Still Divided but More Open: Mapping European Attitudes towards Migration Before and After the Migration Crisis. Friedrich Ebert Stiftung. Retrieved Jan. 16, 2022, from http://library.fes.de/pdf-files/bueros/budapest/15322-20190505.pdf
    42. Naxera, V., & Krčál, P. (2018). 'This Is a Controlled Invasion': The Czech President Miloš Zeman's Populist Perception of Islam and Immigration as Security Threats. Journal of Nationalism, Memory and Language Politics, 12(2), 192-215. https://doi.org/10.2478/jnmlp-2018-0008 Go to original source...
    43. Niemann, A., & Zaun, N. (2018). EU Refugee Policies and Politics in Times of Crisis: Theoretical and Empirical Perspectives. JCMS: Journal of Common Market Studies, 56(1), 3-22. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcms.12650 Go to original source...
    44. Rapley, T. (2014). Sampling Strategies in Qualitative Research. In U. Flick (Ed.), The Sage Handbook of Qualitative Data Analysis (pp. 49-63). SAGE. Go to original source...
    45. Reed, I. A. (2011). Interpretation and Social Knowledge. The University of Chicago Press. Go to original source...
    46. Ringlerová, Z. (2021). The Impact of Immigration on Attitudes toward the EU: Evidence from a Three-Country Survey Experiment. JCMS: Journal of Common Market Studies, 60(2), 391-407. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcms.13237 Go to original source...
    47. Ripoll Servent, A. (2019). The EU's Refugee 'Crisis': Framing Policy Failure as an Opportunity for Success. Politique Européenne, 65(3),178-210. https://doi.org/10.3917/poeu.065.0178 Go to original source...
    48. Risse, T., & Kleine, M. (2007). Assessing the Legitimacy of the EU's Treaty Revision Methods. JCMS: Journal of Common Market Studies, 45(1), 69-80. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-5965.2007.00703.x Go to original source...
    49. Rittberger, B. (2010). Democracy and European Union Governance. In M. Egan, N. Nugent & W. E. Paterson (Eds.), Research Agendas in EU Studies: Stalking the Elephant (pp. 134-167). Palgrave Macmillan. Go to original source...
    50. SANEP. (2016, May). Češi odmítají uprchlické kvóty, uprchlické "výkupné" i bezvízový styk s Tureckem. Panuje obava z islamizace Evropy. [Czechs reject refugee quotas, refugee "ransoms" and visa-free travel with Turkey. Fear of the Islamisation of Europe.] SANEP. Retrieved June 8, 2022, from https://www.protext.cz/english/zprava.php?id=25073
    51. Scharpf, F. (1999). Governing in Europe: Effective and Democratic? Oxford University Press.
    52. Schmidt V. A. (2013). Democracy and Legitimacy in the European Union Revisited: Input, Output and 'Throughput'. Political Studies, 61(1), 2-22. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9248.2012.00962.x Go to original source...
    53. Schmidt, V. A. (2004). The European Union: Democratic Legitimacy in a Regional State? JCMS: Journal of Common Market Studies, 42(5), 975-997. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0021-9886.2004.00537.x Go to original source...
    54. Scott, Z., Šmahelová, M., & Macek, P. (2019). Our Democracy: Czech Adolescents Talk About the Meaning of Democracy and Attitudes Toward Immigrants. Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy, 19(1), 104-132. https://doi.org/10.1111/asap.12175 Go to original source...
    55. Smith, P. (2005). Why War? The Cultural Logic of Iraq, the Gulf War, and Suez. The University of Chicago Press. Go to original source...
    56. Smith, R. M. (2015). Political Peoplehood: The Roles of Values, Interests, and Identities. The University of Chicago Press. Go to original source...
    57. Statista. (2022, December 6). Number of Recorded Deaths of Migrants in the Mediterranean Sea from 2014 to 2021. Statista. Retrieved Feb. 9, 2023, from https://www.statista.com/statistics/1082077/deaths-of-migrants-in-themediterranean-sea/
    58. Štětka, V., Mihelj, S., & Tóth, F. (2020). The Impact of News Consumption on Anti-Immigration Attitudes and Populist Party Support in a Changing Media Ecology. Political Communication, 38(5), 539-560. https://doi.org/10.1080/10584609.2020.1820647 Go to original source...
    59. Stone, D. (2012). Policy Paradox: The Art of Political Decision Making. W. W. Norton & Company.
    60. Szcerbiak, A., & Taggart, P. (2008). Introduction: Researching Euroscepticism in European Party Systems: A Comparative and Theoretical Research Agenda. In A. Szczerbiak & P. Taggart (Eds.), Opposing Europe? The Comparative Party Politics of Euroscepticism. Comparative and Theoretical Perspectives (pp. 1-27). Oxford University Press. Go to original source...
    61. Szewczyk, B. M. J. (2020). European Sovereignty, Legitimacy, and Power. Routledge.
    62. Thomassen. J. (2009). The Legitimacy of the European Union After Enlargement. Oxford University Press. Go to original source...
    63. Thornberg, R., & Charmaz, K. (2014). Grounded Theory and Theoretical Coding. In U. Flick (Ed.), The Sage Handbook of Qualitative Data Analysis (pp. 153-169). Sage. Go to original source...
    64. Trauner, F., & Ripoll Servent, A. (2016). The Communitarization of the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice: Why Institutional Change does not Translate into Policy Change. JCMS: Journal of Common Market Studies, 54(6), 1417-1432. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcms.12397 Go to original source...
    65. Trauner, F., & Turton, J. (2017). 'Welcome Culture': The Emergence and Transformation of a Public Debate on Migration. Austrian Journal of Political Science, 46(1), 33-42. https://doi.org/10.15203/ozp.1587.vol46iss1 Go to original source...
    66. Vochocová, L., Rosenfeldová, J., Zápotocký, J., Průchová Hrůzová, A., & Fousek Krobová, T. (2021). Na moři, za plotem, na síti. Digitální média a debata o migraci v Česku. [At sea, behind the fence, on the web. Digital media and the debate on migration in Czechia]. Kniha Zlín.
    67. Wondreys, J. (2021). The 'Refugee Crisis' and the Transformation of the Far Right and the Political Mainstream: The Extreme Case of the Czech Republic. East European Politics, 37(4), 722-746. https://doi.org/10.1080/21599165.2020.1856088 Go to original source...

    This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0), which permits non-comercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original publication is properly cited. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.


    Return to the content