engleski

Opportunistic Humanitarianism and Securitization Discomfort Along the Balkan Corridor: The Croatian Experience

Within the Balkan corridor Croatia combined state-driven ‘crisis management measures’, including organized, excessively controlled, swift transit of people, together with humanitarian practices of immediate care and assistance provided by state, civil society, religious and humanitarian organizations, and new solidarity initiatives. Basing our analysis on desk-study and expert semi-structured interviews, done in 2015/2016, we focus on complementing and competing dominant state- official and ‘counter-hegemonic’ civic and humanitarian organisations discourses and practices within the transit reception camps and on borders. While at the beginning majority of stakeholders were acting in humane/humanitarian and overtly supportive manner (‘humanitarian opportunism’), later on, with gradual closure of the corridor, radicalization and securitization of state discourses, rhetoric and politics took place, leading to ‘securitization discomfort’ among pro-refugee actors. Consequently, humanitarian organisations and initiatives came into ambiguous position of balancing in-between their mission/orientation to help and to foster solidarity, and innate motivation to challenge and circumvent securitizing politics.

Croatia, refugees, crisis management, humanitarian opportunism, securitization discomfort, solidarity

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