The Spiral of Prejudice and the Securitization of Migration: The Complexity of Small Changes in the Italian Migration Networked Governance

Abstract

The post-Cold War world has witnessed increased migratory movements. In many countries, prejudice has entailed negative developments in dealing with the phenomenon, spawning a series of insecurities and resulting in more irregularities that do not benefit either migrants or the established population. Italy is a crucial case study of how even the very definition of migration can be connected to discriminatory policies, such as the one based on the citizenship principle of jus sanguinis. A document analysis of how migration policies have evolved in the country and a process-tracing analysis of the role played by different actors in the governance of migration in Italy examine the complexity of small changes in the securitization of migration. The latter, due to its variety of components, can be referred to as a networked governance. Although it is true that the linkage between migration and insecurities in Italy did not suddenly happen in a single act, the idea that changes across governments have not mattered would be entirely misleading. Some of the policies enacted by different governments have actually entailed discriminatory practices, generating a spiralling of the securitization of migration and its related migration-crime nexus. The analysis illustrates that even small changes in migration policies attempting to remove prejudice from the equation can encompass crucial differences for the entire migration governance. Finally, it illustrates that a turning point in reducing insecurities would depend on the adoption of jus culturae, which can actually reduce the creation of irregular migration and insecurities.