Interests Under Construction: Views on Migration from the European Union’s Southern External Border

Abstract

What do people think about unauthorised migrants reaching their shores? This article examines ethnographically what and how Maltese citizens think about recent migrant arrivals from northern Africa. This case study adds to research on public opinion formation in migrant-receiving societies in the European Union, offering perspectives from a small state tasked with enforcing the European Union’s external border in which migration is viewed critically. Embedding our research within constructivist institutionalism – which assumes that self-interest is not pre-determined but rather constructed – we are the first authors to take up Colin Hay’s call for ethnographic analysis in this field. We suggest that criticism of migration to Malta was grounded in fears and beliefs associated with unorderliness of migration management, perceived unfairness of EU requirements, uncertainty of the future, and a loss of control of being able to determine one’s own cultural identity.