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The War Against the Asylum Seeker: Why 'boat people' became a security issue in Australia

Ridell, Pernilla LU (2014) SOCK01 20141
Sociology
Abstract
This essay aims to analyze Australia’s ambivalent relationship towards the asylum seeker in general, boat people in particular, using the theoretical framework of institutional panic, as formulated by Blum and ‘securitization’, as developed by the Copenhagen School. It outlines the country’s past and present relationship with migration, while focusing its analysis on events preceding and following the 2001 federal election. The essay juxtaposes the Australian historical fear of the ‘other’ onto the new insecurities emerging in the late 90s (economic instability and an influx of asylum seekers), in order to explain why migration became a security issue. Through a social constructionist paradigm, it argues that the threat of asylum seekers,... (More)
This essay aims to analyze Australia’s ambivalent relationship towards the asylum seeker in general, boat people in particular, using the theoretical framework of institutional panic, as formulated by Blum and ‘securitization’, as developed by the Copenhagen School. It outlines the country’s past and present relationship with migration, while focusing its analysis on events preceding and following the 2001 federal election. The essay juxtaposes the Australian historical fear of the ‘other’ onto the new insecurities emerging in the late 90s (economic instability and an influx of asylum seekers), in order to explain why migration became a security issue. Through a social constructionist paradigm, it argues that the threat of asylum seekers, especially boat people, was constructed through a securitization within the political (threat to sovereignty and laws), economical (threat to nation’s economy) and societal sector (threat to the collective identity), formulated through the language of the state and facilitated by socio-political circumstances and Australia’s history of fearing the ‘other’. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Ridell, Pernilla LU
supervisor
organization
course
SOCK01 20141
year
type
M2 - Bachelor Degree
subject
keywords
boat people, securitization, identity, Australia, asylum seeker, Election 2001
language
English
id
4457846
date added to LUP
2014-06-12 09:28:53
date last changed
2014-06-12 09:28:53
@misc{4457846,
  abstract     = {{This essay aims to analyze Australia’s ambivalent relationship towards the asylum seeker in general, boat people in particular, using the theoretical framework of institutional panic, as formulated by Blum and ‘securitization’, as developed by the Copenhagen School. It outlines the country’s past and present relationship with migration, while focusing its analysis on events preceding and following the 2001 federal election. The essay juxtaposes the Australian historical fear of the ‘other’ onto the new insecurities emerging in the late 90s (economic instability and an influx of asylum seekers), in order to explain why migration became a security issue. Through a social constructionist paradigm, it argues that the threat of asylum seekers, especially boat people, was constructed through a securitization within the political (threat to sovereignty and laws), economical (threat to nation’s economy) and societal sector (threat to the collective identity), formulated through the language of the state and facilitated by socio-political circumstances and Australia’s history of fearing the ‘other’.}},
  author       = {{Ridell, Pernilla}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{The War Against the Asylum Seeker: Why 'boat people' became a security issue in Australia}},
  year         = {{2014}},
}