The Refugee Crisis. Threat to or Driver of Cosmopolitan Europe?

Bachelor Thesis , 2016 , 37 Pages , Grade: 1,0

Politics - Political Theory and the History of Ideas Journal

It is the year 2016, and the Refugee Crisis is omnipresent in the media, public debates as well as in politics. The ethical challenge of refugees is being discussed even in university seminars. The topic is drawing big attention not in one European Union (EU) member state but across the entire EU. The discourse is not homogeneous—neither at the national nor the civil society level.

The reactions range from wholehearted welcoming of asylum-seekers by governments and individuals to hostile, xenophobic counter-movements. What? Xenophobic movements? But, haven’t quite a few scholars, Seyla Benhabib and Ulrich Beck among them, alluded to connections between the EU and cosmopolitanism? Why then are some member states rejecting refugees instead of welcoming them hospitably like they should do as cosmopolitan actors?

This confusion leads to the following question: Is the Refugee Crisis a threat to, or could it be, in contrast, also be a driver of cosmopolitan Europe? This question has not been investigated in academia until now and shall be outlined in this paper. Research done in the fields of philosophy, sociology, political science, and law discusses certain aspects of the question this paper poses and will be put together to solve the puzzle.

Inhaltsverzeichnis (Table of Contents)

• Introduction
• Theoretical background: Democratic and empirical cosmopolitanism
  • Seyla Benhabib's democratic cosmopolitan right to political membership
    • Democratic cosmopolitanism
    • The right to political membership
    • Democratic iterations and jurisgenerative politics
  • Anti-cosmopolitanism and communitarian state-centrism
  • Ulrich Becks empirical (risk-) cosmopolitanism
    • Cosmopolitanism vs. cosmopolitanization
    • Cosmopolitanization is 'banal cosmopolitanism' but not globalization
    • Common risks and the cosmopolitan outlook lead to institutionalized cosmopolitanism
• Political membership in the EU: towards a postnational and cosmopolitan society
  • Comparing the political rights of EU citizens, refugees, and third-country nationals
    • Political Rights of EU citizens
    • Political rights of Refugees and asylees in the EU
    • Political rights of third-country nationals in the EU
  • Access to political membership through naturalization
    • The German model of naturalization
    • The French model of naturalization
  • Conclusion: There are cosmopolitan and postnational dynamics in the EU
    • Benhabib's point of view on the EU as cosmopolitan entity
    • Soysal's point of view on the EU as a postnational entity
• The Refugee Crisis as a driver of cosmopolitan Europe?
  • Contradiction to cosmopolitan dynamics: Anti-cosmopolitan responses to Refugee Crisis
    • The Refugee Crisis
    • Anti-cosmopolitan answers to the Refugee Crisis
  • Following Beck, a cosmopolitan response should be the EU's response to the Refugee Crisis
    • The Refugee Crisis creates a European global public
    • The European global public creates an institutionalized cosmopolitan European solution
    • The European cosmopolitan solution as a product of cosmopolitan realism
  • Towards a cosmopolitan solution for the Refugee Crisis driving cosmopolitan EU?
    • The failure of the Dublin III regulation
    • An institutionalized cosmopolitan European asylum policy as solution
    • If member states cooperate, the Refugee Crisis is a driver of cosmopolitan Europe
• Conclusion

Zielsetzung und Themenschwerpunkte (Objectives and Key Themes)

This paper aims to investigate the complex relationship between the Refugee Crisis and the concept of cosmopolitan Europe. It examines whether the Refugee Crisis poses a threat to or, conversely, could act as a catalyst for a more cosmopolitan European Union. The paper draws on theories of democratic and empirical cosmopolitanism, focusing on the works of Seyla Benhabib and Ulrich Beck, respectively. It also explores the counter-argument of anti-cosmopolitanism and state-centrism. Key themes explored in the paper include:

• The concept of cosmopolitanism and its application to the European Union.
• The political rights and membership status of EU citizens, refugees, and third-country nationals.
• The role of the European Union's asylum policy in relation to the Refugee Crisis.
• The potential for the Refugee Crisis to drive cosmopolitanization within the EU.
• The challenges posed by anti-cosmopolitan responses to the Refugee Crisis.

Zusammenfassung der Kapitel (Chapter Summaries)

The first chapter provides a theoretical foundation by outlining the concepts of democratic and empirical cosmopolitanism. It focuses on Seyla Benhabib's theory of democratic cosmopolitanism, which emphasizes the right to political membership and calls for a renegotiation of the balance between human rights and state sovereignty in the context of migration. The chapter also introduces Ulrich Beck's concept of empirical cosmopolitanism and explores the notion of anti-cosmopolitanism. The second chapter examines the political membership status within the European Union, comparing the rights of EU citizens, refugees, and third-country nationals. It analyzes the access to political membership through naturalization, specifically focusing on the German and French models. The chapter concludes that the EU exhibits both cosmopolitan and postnational dynamics, drawing on the perspectives of Benhabib and Soysal. The third chapter delves into the Refugee Crisis, examining the contradictory responses of anti-cosmopolitanism and arguing that a cosmopolitan approach should be adopted by the EU. It explores the potential for the Refugee Crisis to create a European global public and suggests that a cosmopolitan solution would involve an institutionalized European asylum policy. The chapter concludes by assessing whether there are any emerging signs of such a cosmopolitan response to the Refugee Crisis.

Schlüsselwörter (Keywords)

The core keywords and themes of this paper revolve around the intersection of cosmopolitanism, the European Union, and the Refugee Crisis. Key terms include: democratic cosmopolitanism, empirical cosmopolitanism, anti-cosmopolitanism, political membership, asylum policy, refugee crisis, cosmopolitanization, European global public, and the Dublin III regulation. The paper examines the complex relationship between these concepts and explores the potential for a more cosmopolitan European Union in response to the challenges posed by the Refugee Crisis.

• College: University of Tubingen (Global Ethic Institute)
• Course: Ethics in International Relations
• Grade: 1,0
• Author: David Schneider (Author)
• Publication Year: 2016
• Pages: 37
• Catalog Number: V358198
• ISBN (eBook): 9783668432482
• ISBN (Book): 9783668432499
• Language: English
• Tags: Refugee Crisis, Cosmopolitanism, Europe