“ MANY EUROPEANS FEAR A LOSS OF CHRISTIAN IDENTITY
NOT BECAUSE THEY ARE OVERLY RELIGIOUS BUT RATHER
BECAUSE CHRISTIANITY IS A MAJOR COMPONENT IN
THEIR UNDERSTANDING OF EUROPEAN SOCIETY. ”
on anti-immigrant sentiment, Ceobanu illustrated
how opinion polls show that most Europeans are
not welcoming immigrants with open arms.
Ceobanu posited that four main factors drive
xenophobic attitudes; economic competition,
symbolic-cultural identity, security concerns, and
fear of crime. Moreover, xenophobic attitudes
depend not only on individual factors such as
religious and socioeconomic background but also
on such macroeconomic factors as the number of
immigrants in the country and the state of the
economy.
Ceobanu noted that xenophobia is especially
high in countries without much exposure to
immigration, citing post-Communist countries as
a prime example. He stated that many Europeans
fear a loss of Christian identity not because they are
overly religious but rather because Christianity is a
major component in their understanding of
European society. Ceobanu further argued that in
light of the fact that the current EU system for
handling immigration does not properly function,
it is actually a rational response for a country to
take immigration matters into their own hands.
He concluded by noting that this refugee crisis
has not only revealed the disunity of the European
Union, but also an increase in support for political
parties with anti-immigrant and anti-EU platforms.
To conclude the panel, Dr. Alice Freifeld, the
director of the Center for European Studies and an
associate professor in the Department of History,
provided feedback to the panelists and facilitated
the discussion with the audience. She began by
discussing the crisis through a historical lens,
focusing on the migration crisis that occurred
between World War II and the Cold War, the
largest migration in Europe until today. Freifeld
also discussed Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor
Orbán’s move toward illiberal democracy. She
argued that Eastern Europe could benefit from
immigration, which helps to mitigate the impact
of losing so many of their young people who have
left to seek better paying jobs in Western Europe.
She offered possible alternative models to the
exclusive nation-state model such as the 19thcentury model of liberalism.
After the discussion, there was a question and
answer session with the audience members. Some
of the topics addressed were the difficulty in
distinguishing between good and bad nationalism,
the need for more resources and funding for
refugees, the danger of an impending winter, and
a multi-lateral approach that must be implemented
to handle this prevalent situation.
Wanderlust.
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