EUROPEAN MIGRATION CRISIS: POLITICAL DISCOURSE, CONSTRUCTION OF STEREOTYPES AND SECURITISATION OF MIGRATIONS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF ZAGREB

The article problematises the European migration crisis that culminated in Croatia becoming a transit country on the Western Balkans route in the spring and summer of 2015. It focuses on analysing migrations from the perspective of political discourse, giving the increasingly frequent use of economic, security and cultural-identity stereotypes in countries affected by the crisis. The student population of the University of Zagreb was chosen due to it being familiar with the issue through different channels, in some cases even as part of the curriculum. The research was conducted in two phases (in 2016 and 2017). The first phase in 2016 focused on deconstructing the dominant political discourse presented by the government and opposition on the most popular news portals among the selected audience, which was then used to explain the formation of the students' opinions on three forms of stereotypes related to migrants: economic, security and cultural-identity. In the second phase in 2017, the authors sought to detect whether the migrant issue was securitised by the students and which elements of securitisation they attributed to the crisis.