The banality of displacement: Discourse and thoughtlessness in the internal refugee crisis in Colombia

Colombia has one of the largest internal refugee populations in the world. For years government agencies and NGOs presented vastly disparate statistics, with government figures showing much lower estimates of the amount of internally displaced persons, or IDPs. In this article I suggest that the discourse of displacement in Colombia was dominated by a “war over numbers” at the expense of a more complex characterization of the displaced population. Drawing on Hannah Arendt's suggestive ideas on the banality of evil, I propose the notion of the “banality of displacement” to examine two distinct but related processes. First, the normalization of violence over time has made forced displacement appear as a mundane social fact in Colombia. Second, this banality is actively produced through an “attitudinal thoughtlessness” in government and NGO circles. To illustrate this banality at play, I focus on two interrelated aspects. First, I examine the history of IDP management in Colombia, in particular the disputes over displacement statistics. Second, I explore the “colour-blindness” in the counting strategies and the lack of reliable data regarding displaced Afro-Colombians. In a final section I discuss ways in which the banality of displacement has been contested, both from civil society and by the Constitutional Court, which has challenged the Colombian government over its handling of the displacement crisis. I also suggest more broadly how a re-reading of Arendt brings a critical sensibility to other geopolitical contexts, exemplified by geographers' engagement with the “war on terror.”     

Spatial interaction and security: a review and case study of the Syrian refugee crisis

ABSTRACT

Sir Alan Wilson's ideas have been highly influential in the modelling of phenomena including migration, transport and economics. Latterly, research has explored the application of similar ideas to new problems at larger scales. Many of these studies relate to global challenges with significant policy implications. Here, we present an example in the form of original empirical work concerning forced migration associated with the current Syrian refugee crisis. We employ a spatial interaction framework to examine the flows of migrants fleeing Syria and the characteristics which influence their choice of destination country. In line with the broader literature, we find that shorter distances, economic prosperity, and cultural similarity (e.g. shared language) attract forced migrants, as does the probability of being granted asylum; a finding with potential implications for policy. Contrary to expectation, we find little influence for levels of security in potential host nations (e.g. absence of terrorism).     

Europe's democracy trilemma

A truly democratic European Union seems to have become the graal of European politics, the project's redemptive promise and unreachable horizon. Much has been written about the gap between promise and performance and about the obstacles to EU democratization. Here, we suggest that one way to apprehend the ‘democratic deficit’ debate as it has evolved in the wake of the euro crisis is to think of it as a ‘democratic trilemma’. We argue that European legitimacy requires responses in different realms: first, an acknowledgement of Europe's ‘transnational democratic interdependence’; second, an anchoring of the functionalist European superstructure in ‘national democratic legitimacy’; and third, a grounding of both European and national power in ‘local democratic legitimacy’. While the very notion of trilemma points to the tensions that arise in trying to satisfy these requisites simultaneously, we nevertheless need to look for ways of alleviating the trilemma rather than coming up with democratic magic bullets in a single one of these realms. While our main goal is to reframe and open up the debate around the key concepts of empowerment, mutual recognition and flexibility, we also provide examples of what this may mean.     

The fragility of Europe's Willkommenskultur

In this guest editorial Chris Hann considers the refugee route via the Balkans to Germany that opened up in a big way in the summer of 2015. The influx of ‘economic migrants’, as most newcomers are widely perceived, is polarizing opinion throughout the member states of the European Union. Hann also detects a renewal of the old east‐west moral geographies, due in part to legacies of the socialist era in eastern Europe and the semi‐peripheral condition of the region today for European capitalism. Whereas most anthropologists tend to favor unconstrained mobility and hence call for the abolition of frontiers, Hann suggests that the solution cannot be so simple. Focusing on the interplay of economic and ethical factors, he urges empathy not only with all categories of refugees/migrants but also with the dispossessed in the societies that offer them a ‘welcome’.     

Integration and Europe's Defense Industry

The European Union's influence on defense industry mailers has increased in recent years. This is plaiting because the Treaty of Rome permits member stales to maintain armaments production and trade issues at the national level. The argument presented in this paper is that the predominant theories of European integration cannot adequately explain this shift in policymaking from the national to the regional level. Reactive spillover combines an appreciation of international environmental pressures with the concept of spillover.     

Interventions on Europe's political futures

Europe is facing challenging times. The so-called ‘migration crisis’ has seen the hardening and militarisation of Europe’s borders. Nationalist politicians are framing European states as being under siege from Islamist terrorists and economic migrants, which has led to a rise in xenophobia and casual racism on the streets of European cities. Meanwhile the Euro-zone has seen a series of employment crises and economic bailouts. Alongside such political and economic turmoil, the European Union is facing unprecedented pressures, not least from the ‘Brexit’ result of the UK's referendum on EU membership in June 2016. In reflecting on these manifold challenges to the idea and space of Europe these interventions focus on three themes that have long animated political geography scholarship: borders, power and crises. Cross-cutting the interventions are two calls to action: to rethink our analytical approaches to Europe, and to reframe our role as critical scholars.     

Europe's Christian Democratic Parties and American Possibilities

In this paper, I survey the histories of Europe's Christian Democratic parties and suggest that inasmuch as they show that religiously framed party politics can have significant and positive effects on both institutions and supporters, it is difficult to see how those lessons translate straightforwardly to the American social and political order. Even if they did, making a success, both electorally and substantively, of a Christian Democratic movement in the United States would require a degree of statesmanship that certainly seems in short supply these days.     

Europe's energy security: challenges and opportunities

The extreme volatility of global energy markets since the early 2000s has prompted the Commission of the European Communities to issue a new Green Paper, 'A European strategy for sustainable, competitive and secure energy'. This important document seeks to identify the main steps EU members need to take to enhance their energy outlooks. The first section in this article discusses the concept 'energy security'. This is followed by an examination of Europe's energy mix (oil, natural gas, coal, nuclear power and renewables). The third section analyses European efforts to establish and strengthen energy partnerships with Russia, the Caspian Sea region and the Middle East. In other words, the article seeks to examine Europe's efforts to diversify its energy mix and energy sources. The main argument is that stability and predictability in energy markets are shared goals between producing regions and major consumers.     

Localization in Europe's Periphery: Tourism Development in Sardinia

As a part of the south Italian Mezzogiorno the island of Sardinia is one of the most peripheral and least favoured regions in the European Union (EU). This article deals with the strategies that have been pursued to restructure the Sardinian economy during the post-war period. In particular, focus is on experiences with local tourism development. After a sketch of the key features of Sardinia, the fruitless top-down strategies of the Italian government to industrialize the island are discussed. After that, the efforts of local parties to promote tourism that builds upon locality-specific assets are analysed. Furthermore, the effects of this localized approach for Sardinia have been generally positive. Moreover, the growing interest among tourists for Sardinia's natural and cultural heritage offers perspectives for bottom-up tourism development as well. Here, however, it is important to balance the short-run benefits of tourism with the possible costs of long-term environmental and socio-cultural degradation. For the future development of Sardinia, therefore, 'eco-tourism' might be an additional tool worth considering in the island's present localized tourism strategy.     

Iran's Role in Europe's Energy Security: An Assessment

European leaders are increasingly conscious of their heavy dependence on energy supplies from Russia. In an attempt to articulate a strategy to improve energy security, the European Commission issued an EU Energy Security and Solidarity Action Plan in November 2008. This essay examines Europe's energy vulnerability and the role Iran can play in diversifying the EU energy supplies. I argue that a rapprochement with Iran aimed at greater utilization of its oil and gas reserves would contribute to Europe's (and the world's) energy security.