The large and continuing refugee stream that arose from the long-lived Syrian Civil War that began in 2011 has deeply affected the politics and demography of the countries of the eastern Mediterranean. This book’s chapters suggest several cross-cutting themes or phenomena. First, they highlight the problem of alterity or othering as a central feature of the reactions to the Syrian mass migration challenge. Second, human tendencies to xenophobia and fear of difference and change have played a key role in producing broad popular ill-will and government opposition to assisting Syria’s displaced. Finally, these currents merged, although at varying speeds and to changing degrees during the decade of the Syrian migration, to generate calls by many individuals that migrants and refugees constituted a security threat to be met with demonization and removal and/or with efforts to ensure they were kept ‘at bay’ at all costs.
Policy and Politics of the Syrian Refugee Crisis in Eastern Mediterranean States
Table of contents
Introduction – Max O. Stephenson Jr. and Yannis A. Stivachtis
From Securitization to Integration – Max O. Stephenson Jr. and Yannis A. Stivachtis
UNHCR, National Policies and the Syrian Refugee Crisis in Lebanon and Jordan – Neda Moayerian and Max O. Stephenson Jr.
The European Union’s Response to the Syrian Refugee Crisis – Evanthia Balla
Civil Society and the Syrian Refugee Crisis – Georgeta V. Pourchot
The Jordanian Response to the Syrian Refugee Crisis from a Resilience Perspective – Zeynep S. Mencutek and Ayat J. Nashwan
The Syrian Refugee Crisis and the Lebanese Response – Sukaina Alzyoud, Fatima Alzyoud and Dania Shahin
Investigating Refugee Agency Amidst Widespread Popular, Political and Economic Discrimination and Alienation – Muddather Jameel Abu. Karaki, Renad Abbadi and Max O. Stephenson, Jr.
Egypt and the Syrian Refugee Crisis – Dina Rashed
National Responses to the Syrian Refugee Crisis: The Cases of Israel and Cyprus – Erica Martin and Yannis A. Stivachtis
The Critical Role of Turkey in the Management of the Syrian Refugee Crisis – Dimitris Tsarouhas
From Transit Country to Destination: The Road to Refugee and Asylum Seekers’ Integration in Greece – Alexandra Prodromidou and Faye Ververidou
Italy’s Mixed Response to the Syrian Refugee Crisis – Augusta Nannerini
National Responses to the Syrian Refugee Crisis: The Cases of Libya and Malta – Emma Casey and Yannis A. Stivachtis
Concluding Remarks – Max O. Stephenson Jr. and Yannis A. Stivachtis
About the editors
Max O. Stephenson, Jr. serves as a Professor of Public and International Affairs and the Director of the Institute for Policy and Governance at Virginia Tech (VTIPG). His research and teaching interests include human rights and refugees; civil society and democratic theory, especially as pertaining to conceptions of political agency and social change processes; NGOs and international development; and peacebuilding. He is the author or editor of 11 books and more than 80 refereed articles and book chapters. He has taught graduate and undergraduate courses related to community change and development both domestically and internationally for nearly three decades. Stephenson has also led the VTIPG Community Change Collaborative (CCC), an interdisciplinary graduate student group with academic and professional interests in community change dynamics and praxis in the United States and abroad, for more than a decade. His commentaries concerning American and international politics and democracy can be accessed at the following links: (1) and (2).
Yannis A. Stivachtis is Professor of Political Science and holder of the Jean Monnet Chair at Virginia Tech. He also serves as Director of the Center for European Union, Transatlantic & Trans-European Space Studies (CEUTTSS) – A Jean Monnet Center of Excellence; Director of the International Studies Program; and University Coordinator of the Diplomacy Lab. His research and teaching interests include International Relations theory (English School), security/strategic studies, and European Studies. He is currently the editor of the Critical European Studies book series (Routledge) and co-editor of the Athens Journal of Mediterranean Studies (AJMS). His most recent books include: The Routledge Handbook of Critical European Studies (Routledge, 2021; co-editor); Regional Security in the Middle East: Sectors, Variables and Issues (E-International Relations Publishing, 2019; co-editor); Conflict and Diplomacy in the Middle East: External Actors and Regional Rivalries (E-International Relations Publishing, 2018; editor); The State/Society Relationship in Security Analysis (U.S. Army War College Press, 2015). Revisiting the Idea of the European Union as Empire (Routledge, 2015; co- editor); Europe after Enlargement (Routledge, 2014; co-editor); The European Union and Peace-building (special issue, Review of European Studies, 5(3), 2013; co-editor); EUrope and the World (special issue, Review of European Studies, 4(3), 2012; editor); Human and State (In)Security in a Globalized World, 2nd edition (Kendall Hunt, 2011); and The Economic Dimension of Turkey’s Accession to the European Union (Brussels University Press, 2011; co-editor). He has also published several book chapters and articles in peer- reviewed journals.
