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SECURITY CONCERNS OVER THE THIRD-COUNTRIES MIGRATION IN THE SLOVAK REPUBLIC

B. Olejarova

Abstract

Third-countries migration is considered to be the security threat to the receiving countries. This hypothesis is widely accepted mostly by the public in the receiving states. However, there are only few scientific studies aiming to verify the hypothesis. With missing evidence that would confirm or deny the theory, securitization of the topic in the EU and particularly in Slovakia as a country with limited immigration history raises. Therefore, it is necessary to analyze the nexus migration-security more deeply and apply the general findings on the specific situation in particular countries reflecting their demographic composition, internal policy and national security development. The research has been conducted as follows. First, in order to analyze the influence of migration on the security environment of the state, one needs to explore the current migration situation in the Slovak Republic focusing on numbers of legal and irregular migrants and asylum seekers in the country, as well as migration routes crossing the Slovak territory. Second, security aspects of migration in Slovakia had been analyzed. Leaving out of consideration the horizontal definition of threats as developed by the Copenhagen School, security will be analyzed only in the strict sense of word. Based upon this theoretical narrowing, three interconnections among security and migration had been identified. These include terrorism, transnational organized crime and internal criminal activities related to migration - including both the activities of migrants, as well as activities of the countryВ’s citizens conditioned by migrants, such as extremism and racially motivated violence. Finally, following the crime and safety reports of the national security agencies, the paper verifies hypothesis which assumes that third-countries migration is a security threat for Slovakia. This is important on one hand to prevent securitization of the topic in the public and its misuse by the media and extreme political groups and on the other hand to be prepared for the potential security threats in cases when the hypothesis will be confirmed as valid.

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DOI resolver: doi.org/10.5593/SGEMSOCIAL2017/HB11/S12.121

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