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The large and continuing refugee stream that arose from the long-lived Syrian Civil War that began in 2011 has deeply affected the politics and demography of the countries of the eastern Mediterranean. This book’s chapters suggest several cross-cutting themes or phenomena. First, they highlight the problem of alterity or othering as a central feature of the reactions to the Syrian mass migration challenge. Second, human tendencies to xenophobia and fear of difference and change have played a key role in producing broad popular ill-will and government opposition to assisting Syria’s displaced. Finally, these currents merged, although at varying speeds and to changing degrees during the decade of the Syrian migration, to generate calls by many individuals that migrants and refugees constituted a security threat to be met with demonization and removal and/or with efforts to ensure they were kept ‘at bay’ at all costs.
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Contributors: Renad Abbadi, Fatima Alzyoud, Sukaina Alzyoud, Evanthia Balla, Emma Casey, Muddather Abu Karaki, Erica Martin, Zeynep S. Mencutek, Neda Moayerian, Augusta Nannerini, Ayat Nashwan, Georgeta V. Pourchot, Alexandra Prodromidou, Dina Rashed, Dania Shahin, Dimitris Tsarouhas, Faye Ververidou.
One of the most important questions raised here is how a humanitarian crisis becomes framed as a security problem.
From a field-informed perspective, displacement is never only a demographic or political issue. It affects borders, local communities, institutions, resources, public trust, and the capacity of states to manage prolonged pressure.
The critical distinction is between responding to the consequences of displacement and treating displaced people themselves as the threat. Understanding that distinction is essential for developing policies that address both security concerns and human consequences without allowing fear to replace analysis.
— Wahidullah Noorzai (NIDA)
Former Senior ANCOP Officer | Field Strategist | Military & Security Analyst