Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Right Of Free Movement: A Story Of Securitisation And Control In The Uk Or The Story Of Ion Popescu, Konstanitinos Mitropoulos

Bahram Kazemian

Recently in Britain there has been an on-going discussion on the right of European citizens to move to, work and reside freely in any European Union member-state. British politicians and media, stepping on the significant number of Eastern Europeans who moved to the United Kingdom, articulated a securitising discourse representing them as ‘benefit tourists’ and criminals who threaten the integrity of the welfare system and social cohesion. However, this is only part of the securitisation story. This paper argues that the securitisation of mobile European citizens and, consequently of the right of free movement itself, is used as governmentality in …