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Refugee struggles in Germany between universal and particular claims

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Innovation und Legitimation in der Migrationspolitik

Part of the book series: Studien zur Migrations- und Integrationspolitik ((SZMI))

Abstract

The authors analyze and compare the positioning of three migrant and refugee self-organizations: Women in Exile, Youth without Borders, and Lampedusa in Hamburg. They argue that even though their narratives and strategies are shaped by the pragmatic demands and competing particular claims of their specific groups, they also adhere to universal claims for the rights of all refugees and migrants. Examples are given for innovative political impulses by the examined refugee protests that call into question the legitimacy of the German-European migration regime and its system of stratified rights and legal statuses.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    This is a revised and shortened version of our article “‘We Are Here to Stay’—Refugee Struggles in Germany between Unity and Division” that has first been published in Rosenberger et al. (2018). We will use migration as the general term in this paper. However, in regard to the passages about specific struggles we mostly use the word refugee according to the self-definition of the actors involved.

  2. 2.

    The concept of self-organization could therefore be distinct from pro-migrant organizing (Schwenken 2006, p. 71 f.). However, in other contexts, such as the US, where the concepts of community organizing or grassroots organizing already imply its meaning (Delgado und Staples 2008), it is only rarely used.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Hamburg, Germany

    Abimbola Odugbesan

  2. Osnabrück, Germany

    Helge Schwiertz

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  1. Abimbola Odugbesan
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  2. Helge Schwiertz
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Correspondence to Helge Schwiertz .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Fachhochschule Kiel Soziale Arbeit und Gesundheit, Kiel, Germany

    Roswitha Pioch

  2. Evangelische Hochschule, Soziale Arbeit, Freiburg, Germany

    Katrin Toens

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Odugbesan, A., Schwiertz, H. (2020). Refugee struggles in Germany between universal and particular claims. In: Pioch, R., Toens, K. (eds) Innovation und Legitimation in der Migrationspolitik. Studien zur Migrations- und Integrationspolitik. Springer VS, Wiesbaden. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-30097-5_10

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-30097-5_10

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