Migration Processes in Central and Eastern Europe - Multiple Choices

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Introduction
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10
rights. Dimova's complex analysis exposes some of the
outcomes of such policy.
The second theme emerging from the texts in
this section is the implications of the important role of
NGOs in the field of refugee issues. As Anny Knapp
indicates in the interview attached to the ICF report, there
are possibilities to form a network of NGOs which will
cooperate to jointly observe and critique the process of
“harmonisation” of the EU asylum policies; the ICF report
is the proof that positive development is taking place in
the context of Central and Eastern Europe. However, the
actual influence and power these networks can exercise
when attempting to effectively change refugee reception
conditions remains unclear. No matter how strongly they
advocate for the rights of refugees and asylum seekers
embedded in international legislation, in the last instance
it is the state that has to enforce them. As David Harvey
(2005) argues: “Rights are…derivative of and conditional
upon citizenship. The territoriality of jurisdiction then
becomes an issue” (180).
When discussing roles of Czech NGOs in the
process of migrant integration, Günter has a clear idea
of what it should be: “implementing, consulting, and
proposing new measures according to their practice” (63).
Zbořil compares the striking inactivity of the Slovak state
resulting in the ongoing neglect of integration of recognised
refugees with the extensive work of the NGOs. Clearly,
a new space has opened up for non-governmental bodies
to take over various roles in the process of refugee reception
and integration. Often, NGOs have to substitute services
commonly provided by the state. This is not by definition
a positive development. If we see the core of the
NGO work in advocacy, initiating of change, or just simply
being rabble-rousers exposing problems with state policies,
there can be a danger of them becoming “mere”
providers of services and subcontractors of the state
(especially in the environment of permanent financial
insecurity). It is important to take into account that NGOs
are not exposed to the same control mechanisms which
are applied to the state sector; they cannot always sustain
the same level of stability in their actions, transfer of experiences
and knowledge (Tazreiter, 2004). This is a theme
which certainly deserves further investigation.
NORMATIVE AND METHODOLOGICAL
DISCUSSION OF MIGRATION AND INTEGRATION
Articles in this section complement the case studies
and other more empirically based articles in the publication.
The first two articles are explicitly normative accounts
inspired by political theory and philosophy. One concerns
Central European developments in the field of naturalisation
while the other deals with EU migration and asylum
policies. The third article discusses some of the questions
related to qualitative methodology and the presentation
of migration research.
Petr Kafka concentrates on citizenship laws in
four Central European countries: the Czech Republic,
Hungary, Poland and Slovakia. Arguing eloquently in
favour of a policy of integration which does not exclude
non-citizens from society in the long run, he criticises the
overly long periods required for naturalisation.
An Verlinden draws on thoughts of some modern
Jewish philosophers and offers a more general pro-immigration
argument. In her account of the developments
in EU asylum and migration policies, the author exposes
contradictory forces behind the current politics of mobility.
The dialogism she presents as an alternative to the current
migration control paradigm is refreshing in that it frames
the question of “international migration as an inter-human
encounter” (Verlinden: 75). This, as Verlinden suggests,
could happen both on an individual level and between communities
in a country of origin and a country of destination.
In the final article, Petra Klvačová deals with
the credibility of a researcher using qualitative methods of
socio-anthropological research. In her analysis of selected
studies of immigrant communities in the Czech Republic
that were commissioned by the government, she emphasises
the responsibility of the researcher's findings and their
potential political impacts. Klvačová proposes an ideal
model of presentation of qualitative research findings and
critically compares it with the ways the analysed studies
dealt with methodological issues.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
•• Geddes, A. (2005). Europe's border relationships
and international migration relations.
Journal of Common Market Studies, 43(4): 787-806.
•• Glick-Schiller, N. & Wimmer, A. (2002) Methodological
nationalism and beyond: nation-state building,
migration and the social sciences.
Global Networks 2(4): 301-334.
•• Harvey, D. (2005). A brief history of neoliberalism.
Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press.
•• Lavenex, S. (2001). Migration and the EU's new eastern
border: Between realism and liberalism. Journal of
European Public Policy, 8(1): 24-42.
•• Tazreiter, C. (2004). Asylum seekers and the state.
The politics of protection in a security-conscious world.
Aldershot: Ashgate.
Migration Processes in Central and Eastern Europe: Unpacking the Diversity