VOLUME LVI- Number 2

Carolyn Reid

Abstract: The refugee crisis or the European migration crisis is characterized as the mass migration of displaced people to the European Union between 2014 and 2019. In addition to being a highly controversial topic, mass migration has had a profound impact on the European Union as both a political institution and as a community of states. This paper analyzes the effects of the refugee crisis on the solidarity and politics of the EU through national comparisons. A comparative analysis of individual member states’ responses to the refugee crisis determines and explains how it effects the EU as a whole. Evidence suggests that the influx of refugees has incited a perverse reaction from member states in the form of value deviation, a populist resurgence, and political disunity. This paper argues that the refugee crisis has affected the solidarity and politics of the European union by destabilizing European integration. Integration is vital to the success and prosperity of the EU as a supranational authority, but divergences over the refugee crisis signify disintegration.

Keywords: European Union, Integration, Supranationalism, Refugees, Solidarity, Nonrefoulement

About the Author: Carolyn Reid is a Towson Journal of International Affairs alum who graduated in 2021. She will attend NYU in Fall 2023 in the Masters of Art Program in European Studies.

 

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