Migration as a Security Threat: A Socio-Constructivist Approach

In modern international relations, security issues are closely interrelated with the migration agenda. Securitization of migration is becoming a global trend and an ontological given. The article is devoted to the process of perception of migration as an existential threat to security. Migration appears to be a social construct based on beliefs about the insecurity of the cultural and civilizational essence of the destination States. The prerequisites for securitization of migration are: a) changes in international relations that lead to the emergence of new migration corridors and an increase in return migration; b) a change in the internal political course of the destination States aimed at protecting national interests and collective identity. The discursive formation translates updated interpretations of humanitarian knowledge, cultural narratives and social ideology, thereby stimulating social polarization and rejection of the “other” as “alien”. The perception of the threat of migration begins with a humanitarian culture of social existence, which is further reinforced by material factors: budget spending on migrants, a shrinking labor market, and an infrastructural burden. As a result, society, not the state, acts as a securitizing actor. Public ideology influences foreign policy strategy and migration policy. It defines the meaning and content of the discourse of power, which is interconnected with the discourse of migration and is conditioned by the demands of collective identity.