UNDERSTANDING EUROPE’S REFUGEE CRISIS: A DIALECTICAL APPROACH
UNDERSTANDING EUROPE’S REFUGEE CRISIS: A DIALECTICAL APPROACH

Summary/Abstract: Germany has received more than 1 million refugees in 2015. While international commentators have admired Chancellor Merkel’s response to this “crisis,” the situation is complex and the German government’s actions and Merkel’s own statements reflect multiple perspectives. In this paper, I apply a dialectical methodology that draws on a philosophical tradition dating back to the German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel to interpret the political debate of migration and Germany’s response to the recent migrant crisis. I find that the dialectical approach permits making sense of the contradictory politics and back-and-forth debate related to Germany’s response to the refugee crisis.

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