Migration as a Security Threat: A Socio-Constructivist Approach

In modern international relations, security issues are closely interrelated with the migration agenda. Securitiza-tion of migration is becoming a global trend and an ontological given. The article is devoted to the process of perception of migration as an existential threat to security. Migration appears to be a social construct based on beliefs about the insecurity of the cultural and civilizational essence of the destination States. The prerequisites for securitization of migration are: a) changes in international relations that lead to the emergence of new mi-gration corridors and an increase in return migration; b) a change in the internal political course of the destina-tion States aimed at protecting national interests and collective identity. The discursive formation translates up-dated interpretations of humanitarian knowledge, cultural narratives and social ideology, thereby stimulating social polarization and rejection of the “other” as “alien”. The perception of the threat of migration begins with a humanitarian culture of social existence, which is further reinforced by material factors: budget spending on migrants, a shrinking labor market, and an infrastructural burden. As a result, society, not the state, acts as a securitizing actor. Public ideology influences foreign policy strategy and migration policy. It defines the mean-ing and content of the discourse of power, which is interconnected with the discourse of migration and is condi-tioned by the demands of collective identity.