<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>This paper focuses on the migration crisis from the perspective of Slovakia while examining the impact of the crisis on the last parliamentary elections in 2016. The migration/refugee crisis that started in 2015 played a significant role during the pre-electoral discourse and political campaigns. This paper has two main goals. The primarily goal is to apply the theory of securitization as proposed by the Copenhagen Peace Research Institute on the case study of Slovakia, and the secondary goal is to analyze the 2016 Slovak general elections. In here, I describe the securitization processes, actors, and other components of the case. Subsequently, I focus on a key element of this theory that is linked to the speech act. I evaluate Islamophobia manifestations in speech act and political manifesto of Slovak political parties. My source base includes the rhetoric of nationalist political parties such as Direction-SD (Smer-SD), Slovak National Party (Slovenská národná strana), We Are Family-Boris Kollár (Sme Rodina-Boris Kollár), and Kotleba-People’ Party Our Slovakia (Kotleba-Ľudová strana Naše Slovensko), all of which often apply anti-Muslim and anti-Islam rhetoric.</p></abstract>

This paper focuses on the migration crisis from the perspective of Slovakia while examining the impact of the crisis on the last parliamentary elections in 2016. The migration/refugee crisis that started in 2015 played a significant role during the pre-electoral discourse and political campaigns. This paper has two main goals. The primarily goal is to apply the theory of securitization as proposed by the Copenhagen Peace Research Institute on the case study of Slovakia, and the secondary goal is to analyze the 2016 Slovak general elections. In here, I describe the securitization processes, actors, and other components of the case. Subsequently, I focus on a key element of this theory that is linked to the speech act. I evaluate Islamophobia manifestations in speech act and political manifesto of Slovak political parties. My source base includes the rhetoric of nationalist political parties such as Direction-SD (Smer-SD), Slovak National Party (Slovenská národná strana), We Are Family-Boris Kollár (Sme Rodina-Boris Kollár), and Kotleba-People’ Party Our Slovakia (Kotleba-Ľudová strana Naše Slovensko), all of which often apply anti-Muslim and anti-Islam rhetoric.

Securitization of the Migration Crisis and Islamophobic Rhetoric: The 2016 Slovak Parliamentary Elections as a Case Study

Journal of Nationalism, Memory & Language Politics

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

This paper focuses on the migration crisis from the perspective of Slovakia while examining the impact of the crisis on the last parliamentary elections in...

Party Political parties marked “Bold” created a coalition government led by PM Robert Fico. Nowadays, in April-May 2018 where paper is progress, Slovakia faces the biggest political crisis after the murder of investigative journalist Ján Kuciak and his fiancé. PM R. Fico, Ministry of Interior Robert Kaliňák, and President of Slovak Police Forces Tibor Gašpar resigned, and coalition government was rebuilt. Peter Pellegrini became new PM, Denisa Saková new minister of interior and General Milan Lučanský new President of police forces.	Votes	Votes (%)	Change 2012	Seats	Change 2012
Direction-SD	737,481	28.28	-16.1	49	-34
Freedom-Solidarity	315,558	12.1	6.2	21	10
Ordinary People	287,611	11.03	2.5	19	3
Slovak National Party	225,386	8.64	4.1	15	15
Kotleba-Our Slovakia	209,779	8.04	6.5	14	14
We Boris Are Kollár Family-	172,861	6.63	6.6	11	11
The Bridge	169,593	6.5	-0.4	11	-2
# Network	146,205	5.61	5.6	10	10
Christian Democrats	128,908	4.94	-3.9	0	-16
Hungarian Community	105,495	4.05	-0.2	0	0
Others	108,874	4.2	-4.6	0	0
Total	2,648,184	100		150

non-politicized	politicized	securitized
issue with no public debate	issue is part of public policy	issue = existential threat

Securitization of the Migration Crisis and Islamophobic Rhetoric: The 2016 Slovak Parliamentary Elections as a Case Study

Article Category: Special Section: Reflections on Islamophobia in Central and Eastern Europe

Published Online: Dec 31, 2018

Page range: 216 - 235

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/jnmlp-2018-0010

Keywords
theory of securitization, securitization of Islamophobia, securitization of migration crisis, Slovak Republic, 2016 parliamentary elections, anti-Muslim, anti-Islam, speech act

© 2018 Ľubomír Zvada, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

Graph 1

Graph 2

Results of the parliamentary election of Slovak Republic 20162

j.jnmlp-2018-0010.tab.002.w2aab3b7b3b1b6b1ab1b2b3Aa

Securitization of the Migration Crisis and Islamophobic Rhetoric: The 2016 Slovak Parliamentary Elections as a Case Study

Article Category: Special Section: Reflections on Islamophobia in Central and Eastern Europe

Published Online: Dec 31, 2018

Page range: 216 - 235

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/jnmlp-2018-0010

Keywordstheory of securitization, securitization of Islamophobia, securitization of migration crisis, Slovak Republic, 2016 parliamentary elections, anti-Muslim, anti-Islam, speech act

© 2018 Ľubomír Zvada, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

Graph 1

Graph 2

Results of the parliamentary election of Slovak Republic 20162

j.jnmlp-2018-0010.tab.002.w2aab3b7b3b1b6b1ab1b2b3Aa

Keywords
theory of securitization, securitization of Islamophobia, securitization of migration crisis, Slovak Republic, 2016 parliamentary elections, anti-Muslim, anti-Islam, speech act