A securitização de imigrantes no âmbito político governamental: o caso húngaro ante a Guerra da Ucrânia (2022-2023)

Abstract

This study aims to identify and analyze, through the theory of securitization in international relations, the narratives employed by the Hungarian government regarding the issue of the Ukrainian migration crisis in 2022 and 2023, resulting from the armed conflict between Russia and Ukraine that began in February 2022. To achieve this, we conducted the reading and analysis of 40 texts published in English by the Hungarian government on its website 'abouthungary.hu', which directly or indirectly address the issue of immigrants. We classified the content of these publications into three categories: favorable to immigrants, unfavorable to immigrants, and partially favorable to immigrants. However, we realized that this classification overlooked relevant aspects such as the context in which the texts were published, as well as the political interests behind them. Therefore, we employed a qualitative analysis method to assess these subjective aspects with greater accuracy. Contrary to our initial belief, we found that the Hungarian government does not securitize Ukrainian immigrants, although it keeps them politicized in its political discourse. Furthermore, its political representatives utilize the Ukrainian migration crisis to pursue other objectives, such as securing resources from the European Union and the West, or to securitize immigration from other continents, particularly Africa and Asia, highlighting the racial nature of the securitization.