Migration and the Refugee Dissensus in Europe: Borders, Security, and Austerity.

• Author: Trimikliniotis, Nicos

Migration and the Refugee Dissensus in Europe, written by Nicos Trimikliniotis, was released in the last quarter of 2019. Trimikliniotis is a Professor of Sociology specializing in social inequalities, immigrants, minorities, and collective memory. The starting point of the book is the notion of disagreement or 'dissensus,' i.e., lack of consensus, over migration and asylum. The book focuses on the last forty years, which were characterized by hot issues such as the decline of democracy and the rise of illiberal, racist, and xenophobic rhetoric and politics, in order to shed light on today's dissensus. Trimikliniotis conceptualizes discussions around migration within the framework of dissensus by addressing the social turbulence that emerges due to migration, and the reactions that migration has caused and encountered at the institutional, administrative, political, and social levels. Accordingly, dissensus is the manifestation of a crisis within a series of interconnected crises and trends, such as globalization, neoliberal economics, and economic and political integration, which are considered irresistible.

The book consists of seven chapters, through which Trimikliniotis seeks to explain how the migration and asylum issue has become so important in a national, regional, and global conjuncture from a European perspective; it aims to emphasize the importance of establishing global political sociology of migration and asylum. In the Introduction, Trimikliniotis clearly reveals the main idea of the book, its guiding questions, the outline of the chapters, what he is trying to do, and what is missing. In the first chapter, a general outline of the refugee crisis and a basic framework for the dissensus regarding migration and the refugee issue in Europe is presented. In the second chapter, the impact created by the encounters of immigrants and citizens living in the places to which they migrated, the treatment of immigrants as 'deviant others' and the transformation of the concept of 'surplus population' throughout history are examined. Trimikliniotis also analyzes the concept of 'austerity citizenship,' which is based on historical, legal, and institutional specificities and local struggles; he argues that it can be experienced in different places and in changing processes in terms of ethnic origin, race, gender, class culture, and belonging while criticizing it a type of citizenship that destroys consensus. As one of the most important...