The Creation of a Crisis : A discourse analysis of the securitization of migration within the Council of the European Union

This research aims to examine the securitization of migration in the Council of the European union by answering the question “Why did a securitization of migration wave in 2015 occur in the political debate within the Council of the European union?”. The research focuses on the Justice and Home Affairs Council (JHA) and the Foreign Affairs Council (FAC). This is done by a discourse analysis of relevant Council documents, whereas the securitization theory is used as an explanatory tool. The results of the study show that a securitization of migration occurred due to the discourse 1) connecting migration to terrorism, 2) producing the image of a crisis taking place, 3) mobilizing institutions to act upon these notions, and 4) overlooking migrants’ security through power relation mechanisms detected in the discourse