European Security vs Islam and Refugees Critical Reflection

European Security vs Islam and Refugees
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European Security vs Islam and Refugees
The issue of national citizenship has been a major area of discussion among many political analysts. A large section of this discussion has been centered on a state’s exclusivity in defining the conditions for exclusivity of its own citizens as well as the universal inclusiveness of each individual within and across the national boundaries (Chataway, 2010). Despite the clamor for human rights that have seen nations unable to dictate what happens to other states, many researchers still feel that the capability of certain states to exercise their freedom is being harbored by their neighbors who want to control everything that happens to those around them.
Balibar, E. (2005). Strangers as Enemies: Further Reflections on the Aporias of Transnational Citizenship, Globalization and Autonomy Online Compendium discusses how states treat those who do not belong to their nation as enemies and how this has made it virtually impossible for these perceived strangers to belong to attain Cosmo political citizenship. According to Balibar, there still exists a virtual fence that makes it impossible for certain nations to belong to other nations or even to enjoy citizenship in their own countries. To make his point clear, Balibar points out the imaginary Israel fence that is built deep within the Palestinian nation making it impossible for the Palestinians to enjoy freedom within their own nation (Balibar, 2005).
The author points out that even though this Israel fence is important because it prevents suicide bombers from entering the Israel territory, it is also supposed to prevent Palestinian workers from assessing employment in Israel, divide the Palestinian society, bar farmers from their land, as well as come up with a one-sided delineation of a state border incorporating illegal colonies from the Colonies of the West Bank within the national territory. The author also mentions the Spanish fence which is meant to prevent immigrants from Morocco from crossing over to Spain in search for employment (Balibar, 2005).
Even though these fortified borders are more prevalent in the modern day, Balibar notes that such walls “have existed throughout history, and have been associated with conflicts represented as clashes of civilizations, resistance against a “barbarian” threat, and confrontation between political systems” (p. 3). What the author is trying to say in this passage is that these fences are not without reason but they are triggered by something deeper, a need to protect one’s territory and to ensure that their sovereignty is guaranteed. Even though this was traditionally thought of as a European phenomenon, the author notes that many nations have adopted this approach and gives the example of the United States which is erecting a wall in its border with Mexico to ensure that Mexican immigrants do not cross over to US territory (Balibar, 2005).
Balibar notes that one important facet in the discussion of the border that separates nations is the determination of who is a stranger. The issue of who is a stranger and who crosses the border and for what reasons forms a big part of this anal...