On societal security of the state: applying a perspective of sustainability to immigration

Abstract

The article focuses on how immigration can pose a threat for the receiving countries in a societal context. To theoretically cover this, the lenses of the Copenhagen School’s theoretical frameworks such as securitization and security sector division are used to put statistical data to practice with the help of analytical and quantitative-comparative method. In the second part of the article, the specific examples of potential threats to the native society are presented, such as demographic crisis of the European Union (which is not a threat related to immigration in itself, but rather a catalyst for the potential threats) and the lower performance of immigrants on the labour market. In the last part, the article deals with the potential of making the migration sustainable through analysis of different understandings of such concept. As seen, international migration in today’s intensity is unsustainable and brings practical and political consequences which can be avoided only through effective immigration and asylum policies, which tend to be overlooked in nowadays climate. Society is polarised in this subject and divides people into those who want almost no border controls as opposed to those who want the borders closed. None of these alternatives are valid and concept of sustainable migration could prove to be the viable middle ground so very much needed in this debate.