Start Date
4-24-2018 10:30 AM
End Date
4-24-2018 11:00 AM
Disciplines
Migration
Description
The migration crisis of 2015 brought an unprecedented number of migrants to Europe, as they fled from the political, economic, and institutional instability of the Middle East and Northern Africa. European countries have been specifically challenged by this most recent migration crisis due to their geographic location, as well as the unrelenting demands of support and assistance in restarting their lives in a more stable region of the world by hundreds of thousands of migrants. Italy and Greece have been main destinations of migration to Europe, but the entire Southern European region has been involved by the influx of migrants crossing external borders. This paper will analyze how the Balkans region, in particular, has been affected by the migration crisis, and what policies and support has been given to asylum seekers. The cases of Bulgaria, Serbia and Macedonia have been selected to show the differences in migration support in European Union member states and non-European Union member states in the Balkan region. By specifically looking at public opinion polls concerning migration in these three countries, the paper analyzes the contributing factors of European Union membership, security concerns, and populism to account for the differences in public opinion support for migration within Bulgaria, Serbia, and Macedonia.
Analyzing Public Opinion: The Citizens Response to the 2015 Migration Crisis in the Balkans
The migration crisis of 2015 brought an unprecedented number of migrants to Europe, as they fled from the political, economic, and institutional instability of the Middle East and Northern Africa. European countries have been specifically challenged by this most recent migration crisis due to their geographic location, as well as the unrelenting demands of support and assistance in restarting their lives in a more stable region of the world by hundreds of thousands of migrants. Italy and Greece have been main destinations of migration to Europe, but the entire Southern European region has been involved by the influx of migrants crossing external borders. This paper will analyze how the Balkans region, in particular, has been affected by the migration crisis, and what policies and support has been given to asylum seekers. The cases of Bulgaria, Serbia and Macedonia have been selected to show the differences in migration support in European Union member states and non-European Union member states in the Balkan region. By specifically looking at public opinion polls concerning migration in these three countries, the paper analyzes the contributing factors of European Union membership, security concerns, and populism to account for the differences in public opinion support for migration within Bulgaria, Serbia, and Macedonia.
