The Mythologisation of the Migrant Issue in the Federal Republic of Germany as a Result of the 2015 European Migrant Crisis and Its Effect on Changes in German Migration Policy
The Mythologisation of the Migrant Issue in the Federal Republic of Germany as a Result of the 2015 European Migrant Crisis and Its Effect on Changes in German Migration Policy

Summary/Abstract: This article deals with the process of mythologisation of the migrant issue in the Federal Republic of Germany during the period 2014–2018. The research started with the fundamental question of how selected German media represented the immigrants from predominantly Muslim countries who came to Germany during and immediately after the 2015 migrant crisis. The media content on migration and extremism was selected from the available online archives of the following German newspapers: Berliner Morgenpost, Deutsche Welle, Die Zeit, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, and Freie Presse. Using the discourse theory of Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe as the research model, three master signifiers were selected from the analysed articles: immigrants, German jihadists, and German far-right extremists. Further analysis suggested that myths were the most influential type of signification and a dominant way of dealing with the critical situation caused by the 2015 migrant crisis. As a result of that situation, the following myths were produced: the open-door myth, the myth of Islamisation and the new myth of the East. In the analysed material, references to historical German myths, like the border myth and the stab in the back myth, were also recorded. This research aimed to determine the relation between of the process of mythologisation during and immediately after the emergence of the 2015 migrant crisis and the changes in German migration policy. Furthermore, the role of hegemonic discourse was explored, especially in situations where it was used to alleviate cultural conflict and social polarisation in times of crisis.

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