Transnational Xenophobia in Europe? Literary Representations of Contemporary Fears

Does an enlarged Europe harbor an enlarged fear of foreigners? Has EU expansion produced a bizarre, unintentional convergence in the xenophobic attitudes of eastern and western Europeans? What is the texture of this xenophobia in the different parts of Europe? This article is divided into three parts. First, it summarizes the contemporary European debate on fear of foreigners, antipathy towards immigrants, and the effort to enforce boundaries of national belonging. Second, it provides empirical evidence about national phobias using Germany and Poland as examples. Finally, it assays literary representations of European fears construed by select contemporary playwrights and novelists. The article proposes that the drama of European xenophobia is most effectively captured in the works of European writers, not in the discourse of EU leaders or social scientists.     

Containing Violence in El Salvador: Community Organization,Transnational Networks and State–Society Relations

Extant research has analysed the impact of security policies, truces and informal agreements on both the dynamics and traits of organized violence in El Salvador. However, less is understood about variation in the levels of lethal violence across subnational units. This article contributes to filling this gap. Based on a case study of the municipality of Chalatenango, the analysis shows that community organization and translocal dynamics are crucial to explaining violence containment. Local communities have managed to control the levels of lethal violence and deter criminal actors amid a national context characterized by state neglect and chronic violence. Community organization is not territorially bound but extends across transnational networks. Migrants are a source of livelihoods for the local population; they also contribute to providing public goods and participate in local forms of organization. Transnational networks have forged a migration corridor that enables immigration to the United States. In addition, community organization informally contributes to the capacity of the local state to perform its functions, thereby shaping cooperative state–society relations. This analysis sheds new light on the conditions shaping the variation in levels of violence at the subnational level and local governance dynamics.