Policy and media discourses on refugees in Lithuania: shaping the boundaries between host society and refugees

Abstract

This article examines the complex interactions of policy and media discourses and public attitudes as contextual factors which contribute to the creation of a social-cultural environment for the integration of refugees. It applies comparative integration context, system justification and sanctioned theories and identifies the discursive practices and implications for maintaining the existing socio-political system of the host country. Critical discourse analysis of policy, media, semi-structured and focus groups interviews of experts, refugees, and policy actors reveal the normative assumptions about integration policies which provide the prospects for interpretation about the creation of both distances and opportunities for interaction between the host society and refugees.