A Comparative Study: Was the 2015 Refugee Crisis Securitised in Hungary and Sweden? : A comparative constructivist study on the securitisation of migration

In 2015, Europe experienced the arrival of an unprecedented number of migrants and refugees. This sparked a crisis, as the European states struggled to cope with the influx. Moreover, tensions in the European Union arose due to the disproportionate burden faced by some states, therefore arguably leading to some countries securitising the issue. This thesis seeks to investigate how and to what degrees socio-political conditions and political leadership roles impacted the securitisation of the 2015 refugee crisis in Hungary and Sweden. The assessment of these questions was approached by this paper through the employment of a comparative study analysis and a qualitative content analysis of speeches held by the Hungarian and Swedish prime ministers. Additionally, this paper utilises a theoretical framework, based upon Finnemore and Sikkink’s social constructivism and the Copenhagen School’s securitisation theory. This paper argues that socio-political conditions and leadership roles, embodied by the prime ministers of Hungary and Sweden, significantly impacted the securitisation processes of the 2015 refugee crisis. Furthermore, political leadership roles are interconnected to socio-political conditions via the securitisation of political issues in the following way: socio-cultural aspects, paired with political interests, inform the political leaders that shape how and through which articulation securitisation occurs.