Abstract
This chapter examines two areas of public policy and mobilization corresponding to the defense of the rights of migrants and unemployed people, the latter being one of the pioneer expression of the so-called alter-globalization movement. The analysis suggests that the European Union (EU), even when it constitutes an alternative space for action, is not capable of substantially modifying the balances of power and the inequalities that are part of the national spaces. To a certain extent, a counterexample is provided by the unemployed, who have succeeded in mobilizing massively at EU level over the last few years, something they had not been capable of within the member states. Overall, groups with scant resources suffer much more from their limited means of action and their isolation at national level than from EU ostracism. In this view of things, migrants are doubtless an exceptional case since the measures taken by the EU are aimed at drastically limiting the arrival and entry of non-EU migrants. The combination of the powerful integration models embodied by the states and the policy overlay of increasingly strict controls on entry into EU territory is a dual obstacle to their action and its Europeanization. Nonetheless, the constraints are never total or irreversible. In particular, mobilization of migrants in the member states is fueled by exchanges of information and ideas allowing for comparison between militant experiences on a European scale.
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- 1.
Every year, some 2.45 million persons from non-member states migrate to the EU, to which figure must be added, according to the most trustworthy estimates, 120,000–500,000 illegal immigrants.
- 2.
In this context, it is probable that the scope of European programs against discrimination based on “race, ethnic origin, religion or beliefs, age, or sexual orientation” has, for the migrants themselves, been considerably reduced.
- 3.
See the Mobilisation over Ethnic Relations, Citizenship and Immigration (MERCI) project website for studies of France, Germany, the Netherlands, the UK, and Switzerland over the period 1992–1998, ics.leeds.ac.uk/eurpolcom/research_projects_merci.cfm. Accessed 24 Mar 2011.
- 4.
We use here the main conclusions of the MERCI research.
- 5.
In this section, we summarize the content of a collective project devoted to mobilization by the unemployed in Europe. The contributions were presented at an encounter at the University of Oxford on June 10–11, 2005. For each country, invaluable assistance was provided by, respectively, Jean Faniel, Frédéric Royall, Simone Baglioni, Eeva Luhtakallio and Martti Siisiäinen, Christian Lahusen, and Britta Baumgarten.
- 6.
See Chap. 10 by Jean Faniel in this volume.
- 7.
See “Youth, Unemployment, and Exclusion in Europe: A Multidimensional Approach to Understanding the Conditions and Prospects for Social and Political Integration of Young Unemployed” (YOUNEX). This project was funded by the European Commission under the 7th Framework Programme (grant agreement no. 216122). For a presentation of the results and the methodology, see http://www.younex.unige.ch/index.html. Accessed 24 Mar 2011.
- 8.
See Chap. 8 by Frédéric Royall in this volume.
- 9.
Found at www.euromarches.org
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Chabanet, D. (2013). European Governance and Democracy. In: Andreosso-O'Callaghan, B., Royall, F. (eds) Economic and Political Change in Asia and Europe. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-4653-4_5
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