AIESEC於2017年捷克的難民危機之角色 - 政大學術集成

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(1)International Master’s Program in International Studies National Chengchi University 國立政治大學國際研究英語碩士學位學程. The role of AIESEC in the 2017 治政大 refugee crisis in the Czech Republic 立. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. AIESEC 於 2017 年捷克的難民危機之角色. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Jan Fischer 任恆洋. v. i Advisor: C Yeh-Chung Lu,nPhD.. hengchi U. June, 2019. DOI:10.6814/NCCU201900161.

(2) 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. DOI:10.6814/NCCU201900161.

(3) Abstract The current situation in Europe is messy due to the current refugee crisis – year 2017 is set as an example. This creates a hostile environment for NGOs that try to promote multiculturalism and tolerance. The situation in the Czech Republic is no difference. The popularity of populist right-wing parties is rising, and these parties use the refugee crisis to their advantage and build their support on fear of Islam. AIESEC is the world’s biggest student non-governmental organization that operates in 126 different countries and territories. AIESEC in the Czech Republic organizes a project called EDISON, which promotes tolerance, multiculturalism,. 治政 mutual respect and cross-cultural understanding. EDISON 大brings volunteers from abroad that 立 go to Czech schools and present about their country and culture. This project and AIESEC were ‧ 國. 學. accused of Islamization of the Czech Republic, spreading Islamist propaganda and suppressing. ‧. the sound judgement of young Czech students. The hypothesis is: Despite the current situation and mood, AIESEC is successful in promoting tolerance. To test this, data about the number of. y. Nat. er. io. sit. foreign volunteers and their country of origin is collected, 4 interviews with former/current AIESEC officials are conducted and a survey in form of a questionnaire asking Czech students. al. n. v i n C hwhich provides 781Uanswers. Results suggest that AIESEC that participated in AIESEC project, engchi is indeed successful in promoting tolerance. The level up to which AIESEC mitigates the. current situation is limited, as it strives for long-term achievements and does not have the capacity to achieve this alone.. a. DOI:10.6814/NCCU201900161.

(4) 摘要 2017 年，歐洲情勢因為難民問題而陷入混亂，同時使得非政府組織在一個充滿敵意的環境，難以促進多元文化和包容。這個狀況在捷克共和國也同時上演著。當地的極右派崛起，同時利用難民危機增加支持率，並讓民眾對伊斯蘭教產生恐懼。AIESEC 是世界上最大的學生非政府組織，在 126 個國家地區中展開業務。AIESEC 在捷克共和國組織了一個名為 EDISON 計劃，該計劃宗旨為促進寬容、多元文化、相互尊重及跨文化理解。EDISON 計劃將世界各國的自願者帶至捷克學校，介紹其國家及文化。但此計畫和 AIESEC 被指控將捷克伊斯蘭化，因傳播並宣傳伊斯蘭教使得年輕的捷克學生無法正確地判斷好與壞。本研究試圖檢證，在捷克當地目前的情勢下，AIESEC 是否仍能成功地促進多元文化與包容。為了測試這一點，本研究收集各國自願者的人數及其原國. 政治大 AIESEC 計劃的捷克學生所提供的答案。結果表示，AIESEC 確實成功地促進寬容。立. 籍，並對現任及前任 AIESEC 職員進行了 4 次訪談，且以問卷調查方式，蒐集了來自. ‧ 國. 學. AIESEC 緩解當前局勢的成效雖然有限，但 AIESEC 的宗旨希望能達成長期的目標，也. 就是使年輕世代有機會創造更好的未來。就此而言，AIESEC 在面臨難民危機時仍提倡多元文化與包容的觀點值得肯定。. ‧. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. b. DOI:10.6814/NCCU201900161.

(5) Table of contents CHAPTER 1: Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Research question, hypothesis and level of analysis ..................................................................... 2 1.2 Methods ......................................................................................................................................... 5 1.3 Research limitations ...................................................................................................................... 5 1.4 Historical background – a brief summary ..................................................................................... 6 CHAPTER 2: AIESEC and the challenges it faces in promoting Multiculturalism and tolerance ......... 9 2.1 Introduction of AIESEC ................................................................................................................ 9 2.2 The challenges NGOs and AIESEC face in promoting Multiculturalism and tolerance ............ 13 CHAPTER 3: Populism and Multiculturalism in Europe ..................................................................... 21 3.1 Policy demonstrating the spirit of Multiculturalism.................................................................... 21 3.2 Czech definition of multiculturalism........................................................................................... 25. 政治大. 3.3 The rise of radical right-wing populist parties ............................................................................ 26 3.4 Europe and its own multicultural and immigration experience................................................... 28. 立. 3.5 Possible ways to tackle this issue ................................................................................................ 30. ‧ 國. 學. 3.6 Identity struggle and Constructivism .......................................................................................... 32 CHAPTER 4: Refugee crisis and current situation in the Czech Republic ........................................... 35 4.1 Atmosphere ................................................................................................................................. 35. ‧. 4.2 Rise of populism ......................................................................................................................... 38 4.3 Civil society in the Czech Republic ............................................................................................ 44. y. Nat. sit. CHAPTER 5: Accusation of AIESEC promoting radical Islam ........................................................... 47. io. er. 5.1 News story................................................................................................................................... 47 5.2 AIESEC denying this accusation ................................................................................................ 53. n. al. i n U. v. 5.3 What went wrong? ...................................................................................................................... 58. Ch. engchi. 5.4 What can be done to prevent this from happening again?........................................................... 63 5.5 International and domestic cooperation ...................................................................................... 65 CHAPTER 6: Is AIESEC successful in importing tolerance to the Czech Republic? .......................... 71 6.1 Project ‘EDISON’ ....................................................................................................................... 71 6.2 Survey ......................................................................................................................................... 76 6.3 Results ......................................................................................................................................... 81 6.4 Reality ......................................................................................................................................... 94 CHAPTER 7: Conclusion ..................................................................................................................... 99 References ........................................................................................................................................... 103 Appendix 1 – Questionnaire................................................................................................................ 109 Appendix 2 – Interview questions ....................................................................................................... 112. c. DOI:10.6814/NCCU201900161.

(6) List of tables and figures Tables Table 5.1: Demographics of Interviewees............................................................................................. 58 Table 6.2: Number of Schools that participated in EDISON project (LC AIESEC Prague) ................ 72 Table 6.3: Exchange Participants of EDISON project .......................................................................... 74 Table 6.4: Information about Respondents ........................................................................................... 78 Table 6.5: Number of different nationalities respondents interacted with during AIESEC project ...... 84. Graphs. 政治大. Graph 6.1: Geographical distribution of answers (regions of the Czech Republic) .............................. 80 Graph 6.2: Would you say that AIESEC is an NGO that promotes diversity? ..................................... 82 Graph 6.3: Would you say that the group of foreign volunteers in your project was diverse enough? 83 Graph 6.4: Would you say AIESEC is an NGO that promotes Multiculturalism? ............................... 85 Graph 6.5: Would you say AIESEC is an NGO that promotes tolerance? ........................................... 86 Graph 6.6: Which religion would you say AIESEC intentionally promotes? ....................................... 86 Graph 6.7: During the sessions, which religions were you exposed to? ............................................... 87 Graph 6.8: During the sessions, how much time on average would you say the foreign volunteers spent on talking about their religion or the religion of their country of origin? ............................................. 88 Graph 6.9: During the project, was there any foreign volunteer that spent suspiciously a lot of time talking about his/her religion? ............................................................................................................... 89 Graph 6.10: Do you feel that the foreign volunteers tried to persuade you to follow any certain religion?................................................................................................................................................. 90 Graph 6.11: Do you think that something that is not true was presented to you during the project?.... 91 Graph 6.12: Do you think that topics that were presented to you are not acceptable?.......................... 92 Graph 6.13: Impact................................................................................................................................ 93. 立. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. d. DOI:10.6814/NCCU201900161.

(7) Acknowledgements First, I would like to express my gratitude and thank my advisor, Dr. Lu, Yeh Chung who guided me through this thesis and provided me with very important feedback. Without his help writing this thesis would be impossible. I would also like to thank my committee members for providing me with a direction of this thesis and helping me to make this a better work. To all my other professors who educated me, I owe a big Thanks!. Second, I would like to thank all the respondents, interviewees, AIESEC Czech Republic. 治政 members and other friends for providing me with data, 大 answers and very interesting insights. 立 Also, for distribution of the questionnaire and translation to Chinese. Their willingness made ‧ 國. 學. this research possible.. ‧. Third, I would like to thank my family and my girlfriend for giving me the much-needed support. y. Nat. er. io. sit. and for making my dream – living in Taiwan – happen. Many thanks to my brother for giving me feedback on the questionnaire and to my girlfriend and her family for helping me organizing. n. al. the dataset and translation.. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. Finally, I would like to thank Taiwan’s Ministry of Education for providing me with scholarship and to every single Taiwanese tax payer. I shall never forget your generosity.. e. DOI:10.6814/NCCU201900161.

(8) List of abbreviations AI – AIESEC International ANO – Action of Dissatisfied Citizens CSSD – Czech Social Democratic Party CVVM – Center for public opinion EPs – Exchange Participants (= volunteers from abroad) EU – European Union ISIS – Islamic State of Iraq and Syria KDU-CSL – Christian and Democratic Union – Czechoslovak People’s Party. 政治大. KSCM – Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia. 立. LC – Local Committee. ‧ 國. 學. LGBTQ – Lesbians, Gay, Bisexuals, Transgender, Queer MC – Member Committee. ‧. NATO – North Atlantic Treaty Organization NGO – Non-governmental organization. Nat. sit. y. ODS – Civic Democratic Party. al. er. io. PRC – People’s Republic of China. n. SDGs – Sustainable Development Goals. Ch. SPD – Freedom and Direct Democracy UN – United Nations. engchi. i n U. v. US – United States (of America) V4 – The Visegrad group – the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland and Hungary. f. DOI:10.6814/NCCU201900161.

(9) CHAPTER 1: Introduction The situation in Europe is messy. The Great Britain decided to leave the European Union which sets a tone that spreads to other member states. Inside those states there are impulses to leave the EU, Czech Republic being no exception. Throughout the history the Czech Republic has no record of a single terrorist attack committed by Islamic terrorist. In centuries there has also not been any major ethnic conflict between the Muslims and the Czechs. Yet the opposition of Islam is significant with many people being afraid and expressing hatred toward refugees and. 政治大 the country during the ongoing refugee crisis in Europe. The Czech Republic and Europe are 立. Muslims. It is important to note that the Czech Republic has not allowed many refugees to enter. ‧ 國. 學. experiencing a new trend of populist right-wing parties that are rising and increasing their electoral gains. These events result in opposition of Multiculturalism, which for many people. ‧. is becoming a threat that must be taken care of. This fear of new cultures and refugees has gone. sit. y. Nat. so far that even NGOs are being accused of doing promotion of Islam, Islamic propaganda in. n. al. er. io. the Czech Republic and bringing terrorists to our country. NGOs face a lot of challenges while. v. trying to promote Multiculturalism and tolerance. For the purpose of this thesis an organization. Ch. engchi. i n U. called AIESEC will be used as an example to elaborate on this phenomenon. AIESEC is an international organization that offers voluntary cultural exchanges in purpose of developing local communities. This organization is run by students and it is the biggest organization of this kind in the World. However, Europe is experiencing a refugee crisis and organisations such as AIESEC are targeted and blamed for promoting multiculturalism and Islam, despite the fact, that AIESEC is trying to do the right thing and promote tolerance and peace. I believe AIESEC is doing the right thing, so being accused of promoting radical Islam and terrorism is false and I want to do my research on this topic to find out what has led to this current mood and situation. The goal is to find out whether AIESEC is successful in promoting tolerance and diversity. This 1. DOI:10.6814/NCCU201900161.

(10) study focuses on the year 2017, as it is the year when AIESEC was accused of spreading Islamist propaganda. The structure of this thesis is as follows: Chapter 1 provides the introduction to the problem; research questions are listed, and hypothesis is introduced. The level of analysis, the methods I intend to use to test the hypothesis and the brief introduction of recent history of the Czech Republic, to put things into a perspective, is also part of this chapter. Chapter 2 is dedicated to introduction of the organization AIESEC which is the subject of this study. Reader can find what challenges of promoting multiculturalism and tolerance NGOs encounter and how relevant they are to AIESEC. Chapter 3 is dedicated to introducing the. 治政大is discussed. Chapter 4 talks about defining Multiculturalism and the importance of education 立 literature on subject and give the reader an idea about the situation in Europe. The issue of. what the current situation in the Czech Republic is, the political scene and the rise of populism. ‧ 國. 學. makes up a significant part of this chapter, as well as the situation when it comes to the Czech. ‧. civil society. Chapter 5 is a follow up to the previous chapters and shows the escalation of the. sit. y. Nat. situation in the Czech Republic. This chapter pays attention the accusation of AIESEC. io. er. spreading Islamist propaganda and how this NGO defended itself. The other part of this chapter is about what went wrong, what can be done to prevent this from happening again and what the. al. n. v i n C h with AIESEC is. domestic and international cooperation e n g c h i U Chapter 6 is the most important one as it presents the answers to the Hypothesis. The results of a questionnaire are presented, and the project EDISON is further introduced. Chapter 7 concludes.. 1.1 Research question, hypothesis and level of analysis Here are the questions I am going to pay attention to in this research: What is the reason behind the Czech people being so afraid of refugees, Muslims and Islam? What steps should be undertaken to put a stop to this? To what level does AIESEC contribute to mitigate this issue? What role could AIESEC play in this issue? Is what AIESEC is trying to do, importing 2. DOI:10.6814/NCCU201900161.

(11) tolerance, in line with reality? What are the challenges NGOs encounter when trying to promote Multiculturalism and tolerance? Is it possible to effectively measure and evaluate NGOs importing ideas or tolerance? By answering these questions, the goal here is to see whether and how AIESEC promotes tolerance. Therefore, my hypothesis is:. H1: Despite the current situation and mood, AIESEC is successful in promoting tolerance. H0: AIESEC is unsuccessful in promoting tolerance.. 治政大 of NGOs that for example ask current situation and promote tolerance. There are a couple 立 The problem is that there is no other NGO in the Czech Republic that would try to mitigate this. people to donate either money or clothes or things they no longer use and then send it to those. ‧ 國. 學. countries that are affected the most by this current refugee crisis or those countries that have. ‧. refugee camps in their territory. Some NGOs send workers to these camps or there is an. sit. y. Nat. organization called ‘Doctors without borders’, which sends doctors abroad to help. The Czech. io. er. police also sent some policemen to patrol the borders of the European Union in the past. But there is not really any NGO that would mitigate this atmosphere, try to communicate and. al. n. v i n C hRepublic. So here U promote tolerance inside the Czech e n g c h i comes AIESEC that organizes projects. focused on promoting peace, tolerance and diversity through several projects. To tackle this, I intend to convey a survey through which I can test whether AIESEC is successful in importing tolerance. It might be hard to say whether the projects AIESEC organizes are successful in importing tolerance or not, but one might say that at least AIESEC tries and what this organization does is very unique. There is no hard evidence to prove that AIESEC is successful in importing tolerance, therefore through the survey, where I am going to ask students that were part of AIESEC projects, I can test whether what AIESEC claims is effective or not. The goal here is to get answers that would confirm my hypothesis that despite the current situation and. 3. DOI:10.6814/NCCU201900161.

(12) mood, AIESEC is successful in promoting tolerance. Also, after collecting and analyzing the answers it will be easier to tell if the result is in line with the reality. Parents are those who accused AIESEC of doing Islamic propaganda, but the target audience of AIESEC’s projects are students, so it is important to find out how the students actually feel about these projects and what impact these projects have on the audience.. Of course, no attempt is perfect and there is always space for improvement, which applies to AIESEC as well. I intend to interview current and previous members of AIESEC’s Local. 治政大of AIESEC promoting Islam. and what steps were and will be taken after the accusation 立. committees in the Czech Republic to find out more about the goal AIESEC is trying to achieve. ‧ 國. 學. The level of analysis is mostly going to be domestic as I am trying to find out what is behind. ‧. this sudden fear of refugees/foreigners/immigrants in the Czech Republic, which is one of the. sit. y. Nat. European countries that received the least number of refugees in the current refugee crisis. This. io. er. issue is certainly relevant across the whole region, therefore international level plays an important role as well. However, this work will mainly focus on what is going on inside the. al. n. v i n C h in the Czech Republic Czech Republic – analyzing AIESEC e n g c h i U and Czech political parties that. benefit from this current atmosphere at home and in Europe. I want to focus on cultural values and the spirit of multiculturalism. I also want to include the historic aspect, because the Czech Republic had a very hectic 20th century, where the country started as a part of Austria-Hungary empire and after 2 World wars, German invasion, communism, Russian invasion and isolation from the western part of the world, finally got its freedom and independence in 1989 and 1993. This has left a big mark and the nowadays fear and perhaps xenophobia originates from this past. I also want to look into why people vote for the populist right-wing parties and find out why such populists enjoy electoral gains.. 4. DOI:10.6814/NCCU201900161.

(13) 1.2 Methods The methodology used in this work is a survey, using questionnaire as a tool to collect needed data. This questionnaire will be sent out online. I have spent 7 years volunteering for this organization in the Czech Republic, which gives me an access to a database of contacts to all foreigners that participated in the projects in the Czech Republic over the years, all kindergartens, elementary schools, middle schools, high schools and universities that hosted those foreigners and projects, also contacts of their Czech host families and parents of the children that took part in AIESEC’s projects. Important to mention is that these schools and. 政治大. institutions are AIESEC’s stable partners and participate in the projects regularly, often. 立. annually, which means that the students often experience more than one AIESEC project. ‧ 國. 學. throughout their student years. Big advantage of this method is that it allows me to remotely collect needed data for further analysis. These are the reasons why I choose questionnaire for. ‧. my research.. sit. y. Nat. n. al. er. io. I plan to use one more method in my research, specifically the interview. The interview style is. i n U. v. going to be Semi-structured interviews, as it is a combination of both structured and. Ch. engchi. unstructured interviews. The advantage of this particular style is that it allows to have follow up additional questions to expand discussed issues but at the same time offers collection of data from pre-determined questions that all interviewees answer in the same order for analysis (Connaway and Powell, 2010).. 1.3 Research limitations There have been many refugee waves throughout the history of mankind, however the current one in Europe can hardly be compared to the previous ones, as countries in Europe are 5. DOI:10.6814/NCCU201900161.

(14) integrated into European Union now, thus the competences to deal with refugees are delegated and centralized. Which is something unprecedented and countries struggle to deal with this issue. Then there are countries like the Czech Republic, that are now part of this integration but were isolated for a long period of time and multiculturalism is something new to them, so the idea of accepting someone with a completely different cultural background is horrifying and unacceptable for them. Therefore, there is no NGO that would have the history and experience of mitigating polarizing views on multiculturalism in Czech society. For this reason, I cannot use any example to compare the current situation with. Also, this current refugee crisis is still. 治政 outcomes of this thesis can show irrelevant in the future.大立. an ongoing situation that has not reached any effective solution or end, that is why the potential. ‧ 國. 學. Other potential threats are respondents’ errors in interpretation of the questions,. ‧. misunderstanding the questionnaire or variation and bias arising from both the people being. sit. y. Nat. interviewed and the interviewer himself (Deming, 1944). A research limit is the sample size of. io. er. students who participated in AIESEC projects or worked for AIESEC, as it might not represent the opinion of the whole generation. Another research limitation is the amount and access to. al. n. v i n solid information, as mostly this C information from media, journalists and news reports, U h e n gcomes i h c which can also be bias, or its source can be questionable.. 1.4 Historical background – a brief summary The goal of this subchapter is to put things into a perspective and give the reader a better understanding of the situation and recent history of the Czech Republic. Since the Czech Republic is located in the very center of Europe it indicates a very hectic and complicated history. Over the past centuries there have been many countries invading the nowadays called Czech Republic, such as Sweden, Turkey, Austria, France, Germany (many times – the most 6. DOI:10.6814/NCCU201900161.

(15) recent one is the Nazi Germany’s invasion during the World War II.) and the last country to invade is Russia (the Soviet Union – The Warsaw Pact – army of the Soviet Union, Poland, Hungary and Bulgaria) in 1968. Besides those there were other conflicts over the land that the nowadays so-called the Czech Republic experienced. Especially the 20th century was very dynamic and hectic for the Czechoslovakia (back then) and it had shaped and influenced the Czech mentality, culture, the way of thinking and language a lot. In the beginning of the previous century the nowadays Czech Republic belonged to the Austria-Hungary Empire, that collapsed after the World War I. which led to independence of the Czech land that formed a republic, which is now known as the “the First Republic”. However, this period did not last. 治政大the World War II started. After the long because in the 1939 the Nazi Germany invaded, and 立 war the Czechoslovakia was free and independent again, but that only lasted for 3 years, as in. ‧ 國. 學. 1948, the communist party took over by winning the election (known as ‘Czech Coup’) and the. ‧. communism era, that was very strict and lasted for 41 years begun. Part of this was a complete. sit. y. Nat. isolation from the western world. For those 41 years it was the Moscow that kept dictating us. io. er. what to do and controlling everything. After Stalin died the atmosphere got a little loose only until 1968 when the Warsaw Pact armies invaded us to suppress these attempts for democracy.. al. n. v i n C hthe Soviet republics,U mainly the Russians and Ukrainians During this era many people from engchi. moved to the Czechoslovakia bringing their cultures and languages along with them. The Czechs and Slovaks were not allowed to learn languages, such as English or French, but were forced to learn Russian. In 1989 this all ended, as the Czechoslovakia experienced a revolution, called the Velvet Revolution, and finally got its democracy and opened its borders to the western world. A bit later, in 1993 the Czechoslovakia split to two countries, which are the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Provided this complicated history, it has influenced and shaped the behavior, culture, mentality and communication of the Czech people, but most importantly it has left a big mark on how we see and interact with foreigners today.. 7. DOI:10.6814/NCCU201900161.

(16) 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. 8. DOI:10.6814/NCCU201900161.

(17) CHAPTER 2: AIESEC and the challenges it faces in promoting Multiculturalism and tolerance In this chapter, at first the organization AIESEC will be introduced and then a closer look at what challenges AIESEC and other NGOs face in promoting Multiculturalism and tolerance. AIESEC is the main subject of this study, as it is an organization that promotes Multiculturalism and tolerance. In the first subchapter AIESEC is introduced to give the reader a greater idea of what this organization is. Numbers are presented, as well as some of the world leaders and their relationship to AIESEC. The goal here is to show that despite being “just a student. 治政大 for Sustainable Development organization” it has a global reach and is the UN’s ambassador 立 Goals. The structure of AIESEC is introduced and also what this organization does. Later a. ‧ 國. 學. closer look at AIESEC in the Czech Republic is provided. I introduce AIESEC’s projects which. ‧. will later be the subject of testing the Hypothesis. In the second subchapter I introduce the. sit. y. Nat. challenges NGOs face when they try to promote Multiculturalism and tolerance. This. io. er. subchapter serves as a sneak-peak into what is later elaborated on in the following chapters. The reason I chose to use AIESEC as an example of this study is because what happened in. al. n. v i n 2017 best serves the purpose of C thishstudy and also because e n g c h i U I have personally been involved with this organization for over 7 years now.. 2.1 Introduction of AIESEC AIESEC is the world’s largest international non-governmental not-for-profit organization in the world run by students that organizes internships. It is an international organization that aims to create a better society. Its vision is World peace and fulfillment of human-kind’s potential. Its headquarters is in Rotterdam, the Netherlands but it is spread all around the world. “AIESEC was established in 1948 after World War II, where seven youth across seven countries had a 9. DOI:10.6814/NCCU201900161.

(18) dream of building cross-cultural understanding across nations. They hoped to change the world, one person and one internship at a time.” In 2010, for the first time in its history, AIESEC delivers over 10,000 experiences in one year alone. By now, over 230,000 experiences have been provided, thanks to the active members that create these experiences for the youth. As of 2015, AIESEC has since expanded to 126 countries and territories across the globe. This organization offers over 27,500 leadership positions around the world, also hosts over 500 leadership conferences for its members, which is more than 100,000 students every year. It has a network of more than 2,400 universities in its 126 member countries and territories across the. 治政 Committees organize international exchange programs大 that give over 27,500 students and 立. globe, including the National Chengchi University. These universities, called Local. recent graduates the opportunity to volunteer or work abroad. AIESEC’s structure is simple –. ‧ 國. 學. there is a team that is located in Rotterdam and this team is called AIESEC International (AI).. ‧. This team is responsible for creating strategies and manages all member countries. In each. sit. y. Nat. particular country there is another team, called Member committee (MC), which represents the. io. er. certain country. This team is responsible for all the universities in that particular country where AIESEC is present, these are called Local Committees (LCs). AIESEC is supported by 8,252. al. n. v i n partner organizations. “In 2015, C AIESEC's leaders from 126 countries and territories in U h e nyouth i h gc. collaboration with the Office of the Secretary-General's Envoy on Youth gathered at the United Nations Headquarters to promote and drive youth participation in implementing Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).” AIESEC gives people a chance to see the world, because if they see it then they can begin to understand it and if they understand it then they can start to change it. Every 1.5 hours someone steps into a plane for AIESEC adventure (Aiesec.org, 2019). AIESEC has some famous alumni as well, among those are for example the former US president Bill Clinton or the 7th Secretary-General of the United Nations, Kofi Annan. He publicly supported AIESEC, by saying:. 10. DOI:10.6814/NCCU201900161.

(19) “The United Nations has long recognized that the imagination, ideals and energies of young men and women are vital for the continuing development of the societies in which they live. And since its inception in 1948, AIESEC has contributed to this development by serving as an agent of positive change through education and cultural exchange. In an era of globalization, your programmes have helped young people around the world to develop a broader understanding of cultural, socio-economic and business management issues.” -. Kofi Annan, Secretary-General of the United Nations (1997-2007). 立. (Aiesecmcgillmontreal.wordpress.com, 2015) 治政大. The current Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau is also very much aware of the existence. ‧ 國. 學. and importance of organizations such as AIESEC. He addressed the national conference of. ‧. AIESEC in Canada in a video, stressing that it is everybody’s responsibility, including the. sit. y. Nat. youth, in shaping the future of the planet. He calls AIESECers his colleagues and partners in. io. al. n. systems. (Aiesec.ca, 2016). er. addressing issues, such as climate change, elevating poverty and improvement of education. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. AIESEC in the Czech Republic offers 4 main projects through which local students are engaged with volunteers coming from abroad. The first one is called ‘SPEAK!’ which is for university students. These students have regular discussion meetings with foreigners usually from countries where German, French, Spanish, Italian and English are the native languages. The reason is simple, the students who sign up for this project can practice these languages by discussing whatever topic they agree on in advance. The mentioned languages are the most frequently learned languages in the Czech Republic. Another project is called ‘Global Host’ which is for Czech families that want to host international volunteers who come to the Czech. 11. DOI:10.6814/NCCU201900161.

(20) Republic to take part in other AIESEC’s projects. The remaining two projects are called ‘EDISON’ and ‘EDISON Little’. EDISON stands for ‘Education. Drive. Internationality. Students. Opportunity. Network.’ ‘EDISON Little’ is for kindergarten children where foreigners come and introduce some toys, dances, games and other fun activities from their countries. ‘EDISON’ is for high school or sometimes even middle school students where foreign volunteers present about their country, culture, traditions and other topics. The vision of EDISON projects is (freely translated): “The vision of the project is tolerance and peaceful coexistence of Czech society with different cultures and nations, based on their understanding. 治政大 the interest in learning among by foreign volunteers it enlivens curriculum and increases 立. and limitations of prejudices and stereotypes. Thanks to the multicultural atmosphere invoked. students. This project teaches students not to be afraid of being different or encounter someone. ‧ 國. 學. who is different.” The EDISON project is approved by the Ministry of Education, Youth and. ‧. Sports of the Czech Republic and is supported by the United Nations Information Center in. er. io. sit. y. Nat. Prague (Aiesec.cz, 2018).. AIESEC’s culture is something amazing and it is accepted worldwide. Of course, there is a. al. n. v i n diversity in the world, but there isC one is the same for every AIESEC entity and unites U hthing i e n that h gc the whole world - roll call. This is not a typical roll call where members are waiting for their name to be called so they can mark themselves present, AIESEC roll call is in the form of a dance. Each AIESEC local committee has its own dance, which makes it more than 2400 dances - and these usually change each year with new execution boards, as the term for the executive board of a local committee is 1 year. That makes it 2400 new dances every year. This one must add 126 new dances every year - choreographed by Member Committees and of course AIESEC International has its own dance. Now the beauty of it is, when there is an international conference for all 126 countries, before the conference starts, each country goes on stage to. 12. DOI:10.6814/NCCU201900161.

(21) perform their dance, while the other countries join and dance along. This process takes hours and the purpose of it is to appreciate every country and every culture that is part of AIESEC, as This organization brings the world together and says no to discrimination. Something like this is absolutely unique.. I personally have been an active member for 2 years and participating in projects abroad connected to AIESEC for 7 years. I volunteered in Czech Republic, Vietnam and several projects in Taiwan and as of now, several other projects are yet to come. Throughout this time,. 政治大. I have met hundreds of people and worked with hundreds of people from all around the world.. 立. To elaborate on how AIESEC is ubiquitous, when I went to a conference organized by a. ‧ 國. 學. different organization in Malaysia in December 2017, which had over 300 delegates, a significant number of these delegates are or were former AIESEC members. When AIESEC. ‧. Nat. er. io. sit. the impact of this organization is huge, and it is for life.. y. members meet randomly, they click right away, and they can talk for hours about any topic –. n. 2.2 The challenges NGOs and AIESEC face in promoting Multiculturalism and al v tolerance ni. Ch. engchi U. Archer talks about how England and France took different approaches to Multiculturalism. She talks about what environment the centralization of education sets for interest groups and nongovernmental actors as they advocate for including multiculturalism in the curriculum. The education system in France is centralized, which means that the office in Paris sets one agenda that applies to every school in the country. There are regional supervisors but their term in office changes with each new government. Each government appoints its new supervisors. This sets curriculum for the whole country, leaving almost no place for independent middle players that can implement changes. If there is any interest group or nongovernmental organization, to 13. DOI:10.6814/NCCU201900161.

(22) implement a change is costly. Therefore, bringing multicultural activities to schools and to national system is rather difficult. If NGOs wish to push for implementation of multicultural education they need to approach the central office, as French educational system is a top down approach. Thus, in France, except of few projects that were unnoticed, there is little evidence of local multicultural initiatives. England is the other way around. There the educational system is more decentralized which provides greater opportunities for innovations and multicultural initiatives. For NGOs it is easier that way to work multiculturalism’s way into the educational system in England (Archer, 1984). This allowed Multiculturalism into English educational system – through regions, while in France it never got through the central office (Bleich, 1998).. 治政大multiculturalism (apart from other AIESEC as an organization takes the approach to promote 立. methods) through education. The system in the Czech Republic is semi-centralized. The criteria. ‧ 國. 學. and curriculum come from the Czech Ministry of Education, but schools are free to organize its. ‧. own activities, therefore the environment for AIESEC in the Czech Republic is more. sit. y. Nat. welcoming. AIESEC in the Czech Republic uses the project EDISON for this particular reason,. io. is approved by the Czech Ministry of Education.. n. al. Ch. engchi. er. therefore EDISON project is the subject of this study. Plus, in the case of EDISON, this project. i n U. v. NGOs play an important role in the refugee crisis in the Czech Republic. They are the mediators of the relations between refugees and the state. NGOs represent refugees in courts and provide them with information about the local law and their rights. Most importantly they mediate the relationship between refugees and the Czech public. There are events organized by NGOs that present refugees in positive light. On top of that they are the contact points for media, as NGOs are a source of useful data and information. In addition, researches also approach NGOs for data and information, therefore NGOs influence the production of knowledge (Szczepanikova, 2010).. 14. DOI:10.6814/NCCU201900161.

(23) Nongovernmental actors are expected to be part of implementation of state migration policies, however, that is not always the case. Szczepanikova says: “NGOs are not considered to be partners in discussions about the actual content and direction of these policies. When they attempt to have some impact on the formulation of migration and asylum policies, they are usually seen as unwelcome intruders and problem-makers by the Ministries and legislative bodies.” Nonetheless, NGOs significantly contribute to integration of foreigners. They are aware of the problems that come with coexistence of foreigners and the local population and. 治政大administration and their very formal staff is highly motivated to achieve compared to the state 立 obstacles that stand in the way of integrating them. In this case, NGOs are flexible, and their. approach to foreigners. NGOs protect the refugees or foreigners from the labels that government. ‧ 國. 學. or media put on them. The staff of NGOs sees an importance in balancing the negative views. ‧. (Szczepanikova, 2010).. sit. y. Nat. io. er. NGOs play one more role and that is promoting the positive images via organizing projects and activities to promote Multiculturalism and tolerance. There are annual festivals that promote. al. n. v i n different cultures, food and so on.CForeigners refugees show how they culturally contribute U h e n gand i h c to Czech society (Szczepanikova, 2010).. This is where AIESEC plays a major role. It has a huge international network and very wide reach. AIESEC is able to bring and present many cultures. It does not necessarily work with refugees; however, its task is to create a positive image of ‘being different’. It promotes Multiculturalism and tolerance through projects that enrich the education. Another part of AIESEC experience is an event called “Global Village”. This is when all foreign volunteers that participate in certain AIESEC project (not only in the Czech Republic) gather and present. 15. DOI:10.6814/NCCU201900161.

(24) their culture and country. This is done through PowerPoint presentations or sharing food, teaching the audience a local dance or introducing best known products. AIESEC itself does not help with the integration of foreigners per se, but it does contribute to this significantly by preparing and educating the society. By promoting Multiculturalism and tolerance it prepares the ground and makes it easier for other NGOs to help integrate foreigners.. Alger (2007) talks about how nongovernmental actors play an essential role in peacebuilding. They work with local communities and teach them how to handle conflicts without causing. 治政大 intergovernmental organizations participation of public and get involved with international 立 serious disruption. The goal is to create a peaceful community. These NGOs enhance the. (Alger, 1997 and 2007). If we replace the peacebuilding part with promoting Multiculturalism. ‧ 國. 學. and tolerance, then it is exactly what AIESEC is trying to achieve. On top of that it cooperates. ‧. with the highest organization of all – the United Nations, by helping to promote the Sustainable. er. io. sit. y. Nat. Development Goals.. Of course, promoting Multiculturalism and tolerance does not go without any challenges. It is. al. n. v i n C hCzech Republic, butUthe first challenge is in the promotion the ultimate goal of AIESEC in the engchi itself. It is a critique of discrimination, cultural repression, people not tolerating diversity but. rather lean towards national chauvinism. “But most of all, it is a critique of mainstream political philosophy’s inability to offer a proper theory of how to accommodate cultural diversity.” The challenge here is to bring a greater awareness of injustice and problems related to diversity. There is a great opposition of Multiculturalism across the entire Europe (Fernandéz, 2013). The skepticism and critique of Multiculturalism has been a commonplace in Europe for a while, even before the financial crisis that struck in 2008. Anti-immigrant parties have been enjoying significant rise in electoral support and traditional parties have been quite reserved in addressing. 16. DOI:10.6814/NCCU201900161.

(25) the issue of Multiculturalism (Bevelander and Taras, 2013). The challenge is the contemporary nation-state citizenship under conditions of diversity (Modood and Meer, 2012). This is a great challenge for AIESEC and a closer attention to this is paid in the following chapters.. Another challenge for both NGOs and governments is while promoting Multiculturalism, calling for tolerance and integrating immigrants or foreigners, it is important not to demand them to abandon their original cultural practices or identity (Borevi, 2013). Wasmer adds that it is the way to accomplishing successful integration of immigrants, by not forcing them to give. 治政 richness of diversity and different cultures. It provides 大 the audience an authentic sneak-peak 立 up their own culture (Wasmer, 2013). AIESEC approaches this challenge by showing the. into different cultures and tries to show how one culture can enrich the others.. ‧ 國. 學 ‧. One of the biggest challenges for NGOs is how to deal with mass media. Christopher A. Bail. sit. y. Nat. conducted a study on how discursive fields settle after major historical events that frame social. io. er. networks and emotional energy. He analyzes newspaper articles and television broadcasts between 2001-2008. The major event he uses is the 9/11 attacks. He looks at how anti-Muslim. al. n. v i n C mass fringe organizations dominated the media by spreading dear and anger. On the other side U hen i h gc stood civil society organizations that jumped in to protect Muslims and joined the struggle to. define Islam. He shows how some organizations were convinced that Muslims are secretly plotting to overthrow the government of the United States. There are a lot of NGOs that try to breach the public through media and create cultural change but fail. The fringe organizations use fear and anger to make them visible and Bail finds that they were successful despite being a minority, compared to the vast majority of NGOs that deployed pro-Muslim messages. Soon, the negative messages became a mainstream. It made these organizations powerful and they established inter-organizational networks that continued influencing the media and were quite. 17. DOI:10.6814/NCCU201900161.

(26) successful. Bail calls this the “fringe effect”. These organizations feed on unsettled times. After such event as 9/11 attacks, these fringe groups or organizations are overrepresented in mass media and the other side is therefore significantly underrepresented. This allows the fringe side to succeed and influence a lot of people and shape public opinion as people rely on the media (Bail, 2012). Koopmans adds that Media coverage enables fringe organizations to accomplish their political agendas, because policy makers react to civil society organization’s activities if they are depicted in the mass media (Koopmans, 2004). There are a lot of studies that show that mass media, even though it is not the only one, but it is definitely the most important forum for. 治政 Ferree et al., 2002; Koopmans and Olzak, 2004; Jacobs 大 and Townsley, 2011). 立. civil society organizations to create cultural change (King, 2011; Hilgartner and Bosk 1988;. ‧ 國. 學. This is a great challenge for AIESEC. Three chapters of this thesis (specifically chapter 4, 5. ‧. and 6) are dedicated to elaborating on this challenge AIESEC in the Czech Republic faced in. y. Nat. 2017. AIESEC was accused of spreading Islamic propaganda and Islamization of the country.. er. io. sit. The scenario is very much similar to the case of Bail’s study. The side that accused AIESEC is rather small, but very loud and managed to cause a big fuss. When we have a closer look at the. al. n. v i n Ctheh political orientation fringe side, we can easily identify e n g c h i U of this side, who its sources are and. quickly realize that the network is bigger than it might have seen at first. In the case of AIESEC being accused in the media, AIESEC’s side is the one significantly underrepresented, while on the other hand the one, at first small and loud group is overrepresented.. This is a limitation that AIESEC faces worldwide. Despite having the support of for example the Prime Minister of Canada or the former Secretary-General of the United Nations, Kofi Annan, AIESEC does not get the appreciation it deserves and is often underrepresented. It is the world’s biggest student organization, but people and the corporate world often does not. 18. DOI:10.6814/NCCU201900161.

(27) know about the existence of AIESEC. This is a challenge for AIESEC and a limitation at the same time, as this organization has a great potential achieve much more. The staff despite the lack of work experience dispose of great motivation and drive.. What is the atmosphere in the Czech Republic? What were the arguments of the fringe side and how did AIESEC defend itself? Is AIESEC successful it what it does? These questions will be answered in the following chapters.. 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. 19. DOI:10.6814/NCCU201900161.

(28) 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. 20. DOI:10.6814/NCCU201900161.

(29) CHAPTER 3: Populism and Multiculturalism in Europe While going through the literature I have come to realize that one topic remains untouched. The reviewed literature talks about how multiculturalism or immigration make people afraid and perceive it as a threat to their culture and that refugee crisis adds fuel to the rise of popularity and power of the right-wing populist parties all over Europe. Due to the immigration people are worried about the future, that their culture and values are in danger. But one thing that the debate does not consider is what role do media play in creating this fear among people. The same can be said about right-wing populist political parties and their agendas, election. 政治大. campaigns, statements, tweets, speeches, debates on television, interviews and other. 立. communication channels through which they approach people and touch these issues, that might. ‧ 國. 學. not have been big threats in the first place. So, apart from the role of gender, what level of. ‧. education one achieved, immigration and multiculturalism endangering the culture and blaming established parties with long tradition for failing to address these issues properly and allowing. y. Nat. er. io. sit. that way populist parties to gain more power I am convinced that we, in future research, should pay closer attention to how these populist parties or media cause the fear of multiculturalism.. n. al. Here goes the literature review.. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. 3.1 Policy demonstrating the spirit of Multiculturalism. Multiculturalism got its spotlight and attention from political researchers in the early 1990s when they started looking to it more. Before that it was mainly a subject of research for political philosophers (Kymlicka, 2010). Bleich points out that many authors reach a conclusion that multiculturalism is something that is quite hard to define, because countries that have this debate also have a different definition of what multiculturalism is. The problem is that it is a very broad topic (Bleich. 1998). Runblom adds that there is no fixed definition of 21. DOI:10.6814/NCCU201900161.

(30) multiculturalism among the political debates or scholars doing research in cultural field. Language, ethnicity, culture and different religions are often used as the multitude that characterizes a situation described by multiculturalism. Nevertheless, we must remember that there is a difference in definition of this term in each country. This term is however more often used when talking about the situation change in North America and Europe, because these two places are more lucrative for the immigrants after all (Runblom. 1994). Turner’s definition is that the term multiculturalism can be associated with people with different ethnic or racial origin that live in one state (Turner, 1993). In case of ideology the political. 政治大. views are that demographic diversity represents different habits, values and beliefs. The. 立. expansion of territory and migration is what caused this demographic diversity (Citrin et al.,. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. 2001).. When we look at a diverse society and its multiculturalism, we can see the culture does not. Nat. sit. y. really adjust to ‘other’ cultures or people do not really suffer a loss of their ‘own’ identity,. n. al. er. io. traditions and culture, but as the time goes it rather transforms. Ethnic identity is what comes. i n U. v. from historical context, rather than what we carry within ourselves. There is a problem, that we. Ch. engchi. as people, do not understand each other and we are not always able to start and maintain a relationship with somebody that differs from us, which is an issue that is often being associated with many recent conflicts (Dijkstra et al., 2001).. Migration from the Third World countries and Eastern Europe to the west is something that has been happening for a long time, specifically from 1970s and it is the reason why anti-immigrant xenophobic groups, political parties and other movements were established and are on the rise. Actually, there is an acceleration of this process that is noticeable. Therefore, there is no surprise that this issue is among top priorities for countries in the European Union and their national 22. DOI:10.6814/NCCU201900161.

(31) governments, because of the upward trend in terms of aggression towards foreigners (AbuLaban et al., 1992).. Nowadays, dealing with immigration is a crucial part of the European Union, however it has not always been this case, as some argue that handling such issues as immigrants or refugees is not the EU’s original purpose. The question is whether it is solely up to state to handle the present diversity? Transnational connections connect the multicultural world, which we all live in, and creates a space for international collaboration. Many NGOs and other organizations. 治政大various communities which are not Dijkstra: “Individuals are at the same time members of 立. provide assistance in dealing with these issues to the states. The complication is, according to. mutually exclusive. There is therefore a large diversity between, but also within, the actors.”.. ‧ 國. 學. Everyone has his own personal interest but one common interest that would connect them is. er. io. sit. y. Nat. combination of these subinterests is needed (Dijkstra, 2001).. ‧. insufficient or missing. In order to consider issues such as refugees, coordination and. Since the 1960s the democracies of the west have been using multicultural policies that adopted. al. n. v i n C h that can be adopted a concept named liberal multiculturalism, e n g c h i U without threatening core liberaldemocratic values. Justice, guaranteed for the minorities, is another thing that can be accomplished thanks to these multicultural policies without hazarding with democratic values. However, Kymlicka sees it as a Utopia – the formulation of political philosophers of what we wish the world to be, rather than what it actually is. The evidence is still lacking, even though there are many surveys that focus on multicultural policies and their effect on liberal democratic values – these effects are uncertain (Kymlicka, 2010).. This raises a question, whether multiculturalism is really that bad? The answer would differ, depending on through which state’s eyes it is viewed. There is one country – Canada, which 23. DOI:10.6814/NCCU201900161.

(32) can be used as a perfect example, because it is the world’s only country that implemented an official multicultural policy into its constitution. Canadians believe that immigration does not equal crime, but the society benefits from it. Australia shares similar beliefs about immigration. They conducted 5 surveys between the years 1995 to 2003 and asked whether people that immigrate to Australia make it more open to new cultures and ideas – they got mostly positive answers (Markus, 2011). Could this be used as an example for the countries of the European Union? Because western European countries, such as France and Germany never embraced this kind of policy, or there is the Netherlands that have backed out from their previous. 治政大endorse multiculturalism policies There exists a pattern, which shows that countries that 立. commitments. Sweden on the other hand has a positive approach towards multiculturalism.. perform better than other democracies in the West (Kymlicka, 2010). In 2008 the Council of. ‧ 國. 學. Europe, specifically the Committee of Ministers conceded that multiculturalism, after replacing. ‧. the assimilationist approach, had failed in the European Union (Council of Europe, 2008).. sit. y. Nat. Kymlicka talks about how the Netherlands is often associated with the failure of. io. er. multiculturalism, having unfavorable effects on liberal and democratic values. Such example made many researchers believe that multiculturalism indeed has negative effects. Despite the. al. n. v i n fact, Kymlicka is convinced that C theh case of the Netherlands e n g c h i U is just an exception, because there are still original multiculturalism aspects that develop into policies. In the Netherlands they try to convince the migrants to return back to their country of origin instead of them having the feeling that the Netherlands is their home. The author believes that the above-mentioned examples show that there is a failure in the literature and calls for better social science evidence, that could assist public policies with the problems of ethnic diversity (Kymlicka, 2010).. 24. DOI:10.6814/NCCU201900161.

(33) 3.2 Czech definition of multiculturalism As mentioned before, each country has its own definition of Multiculturalism, with the Czech Republic being no exception. However, the first problem is encountered right in translation. According to Prucha multiculturalism is something like a sub-term of cross-cultural psychology (Prucha, 2007). Svingalova points out that ‘multicultural’ only means a coexistence of at least 2 cultures within one entity but does not imply a mutual relationship. However, the term ‘intercultural’ does include mutuality and such relationship. She views the goals of multicultural education to be mutual understanding among people with different race, language,. 政治大. culture, religion etc., that create space for tolerance and peaceful coexistence. (Svingalova,. 立. 2007). Prucha defines multicultural education as something that teaches people with different. ‧ 國. 學. cultural background mutual respect, coexistence and cooperation (Prucha 2006). There is an interview from year 2005 with a professor from Charles University, called Pavel Barsa. To a. ‧. question how hard it is to characterize and define multiculturalism in the Czech Republic he. y. Nat. sit. replied that it is very difficult. According to him there are a couple of government officials,. n. al. er. io. documents and NGOs that use this term, but it cannot be defined as a government policy as. i n U. v. opposed to the Great Britain, Canada, Australia or the Netherlands. He sees multicultural. Ch. engchi. integration as being the opposite of assimilation, which is members of minorities being unable to become part of the society or nation unless they abandon their cultural differences (Barsa, 2005). So, to sum up, multiculturalism could be defined as a policy that promotes coexistence, mutual respect and cooperation and helps minorities become part of the society while keeping their own culture.. 25. DOI:10.6814/NCCU201900161.

(34) 3.3 The rise of radical right-wing populist parties. We can say that nowadays immigration represents for any established democracy a very controversial problem and it is not only today, this can be observed for a couple of years now. So, the increase of power of the radical right-wing populist parties can be associated with problems dealing with immigration. Because when we look at their political agenda, one can find it targets the immigrants. This creates pressure on parties that are not so radical and makes them oppose immigration, in order to stay in power and prevent the populists from outflanking them. Anthony Mughan and Pamela Paxton point out that the reason behind people voting for. 政治大. the radical right-wing populist parties is not that they find appealing what the parties promised. 立. to achieve, but they want to demonstrate a protest and punish the traditional established parties. ‧ 國. 學. for what they failed to deliver (Mughan and Paxton, 2006). The agenda of right-wing populist parties creates a great pressure on the established parties, causing political agendas of. ‧. established parties having no control over immigration (Koopmans et al., 2012).. sit. y. Nat. io. er. There are scholars who hold opinion that the dissatisfaction with ethnic diversity or immigration. al. v i n C hparties as ‘movements et al., 2013). Rydgren marks these e n g c h i U of exclusion’ (Rydgren, 2005). n. is closely associated with the increasing electoral gains of populist right-wing parties (Koster. However, one cannot blame only skepticism and xenophobia for voters casting their votes for populists, because people’s feelings about political dissatisfaction also plays an important role (Rydgren, 2007).. Mughan and Paxton (2006) point out that there is a need for a better understanding of a relationship between the voters’ perception of immigration on one side and electoral gains of the right-wing populist parties on the other – it needs to be better-theorized and tested more. Jack Citrin, Donald P. Green, Christopher Muste and Cara Wong, conducted a research that. 26. DOI:10.6814/NCCU201900161.

(35) claims that voters’ perception of immigration indeed influences the anti-immigrant policy preferences (Citrin et al., 1997). One more research carried out by Wouter van der Brug, Meindert Fennema and John Tillie, showed the people’s perception of immigration influences them and makes them vote for the populists from right-oriented parties (Brug, van der et al.,2000). Mughan and Paxton point out that none of these studies have taken into consideration the whole process where parties use individual preferences of policies to activate the antiimmigrant sentiment of their voters. They claim there must exist a connection between what parties offer and what voters actually ask for. An example is used in their study to demonstrate. 治政大as well, that stands up for him and apprehension is not enough, as there must be some party 立 this and it says that if there is a person that thinks that immigration represents a threat his. decides to represent him or his fears (Mughan and Paxton, 2006).. ‧ 國. 學 ‧. Oesch in his study comes up with something he calls ‘cultural protectionism’. It is his. sit. y. Nat. hypothesis which says that it is more likely that people who perceive immigration as a threat to. io. er. their culture will cast their votes for the populist right-wing politicians and parties. This approach takes achieved education into consideration and the extent to what it influences the. al. n. v i n C hthe defense of national support of the parties that promote e n g c h i U identity against multiculturalism. There are people that achieve higher education and Oesch says these people are employees with better skills and rather support liberalism and are associated with bigger cultural openness. Then there are people who achieve lower level of education, having less skills and those feel that immigration and multiculturalism is a threat to their identity or their culture. Thus, workers. more likely choose a more authoritarian attitude towards immigrants than the average citizens (Oesch, 2008).. 27. DOI:10.6814/NCCU201900161.

(36) 3.4 Europe and its own multicultural and immigration experience. Since the 1880 there have been many waves of refugees coming to Europe. However, one cannot really compare those that happened before with the one happening right now. First of all, the unemployment rate in the countries of the European Union is high. Second of all, the perception of identity is very much different from the one in 1880, mainly due to globalization. And finally, and most importantly, the number of refugees coming to Europe is much higher than ever before. There was a commitment which Boswell calls ‘liberal universalist model’, but the European Union retreated from it (Boswell, 2000). The main codex regarding the issue of. 政治大. refugees is called Geneva Convention on the Status of Refugees, codified in 1951. This. 立. Convention provides a definition of a ‘refugee’ in Article I.A, which is a person who left his. ‧ 國. 學. country “owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion.” Also, Article 33. ‧. says that states are not allowed to expel or ship back a refugee to a place where - ‘life or liberty’. y. Nat. er. io. Refugees, 1951).. sit. is endangered, this is called the right to non-refoulement (Convention Relating to the Status of. al. n. v i n C hand Weibel Stein U Ruud Koopmans, Ines Michalowski e n g c h i conducted a study where they focus on electoral gains of populist parties that are on the right side of the political spectrum. These electoral gains are on average between the worst and the best election results. The studied timeline is from 1980 to 2008 and they observed 10 countries. Results show: the gains of the populist parties during the observed period of time had continuously gone up. Starting with only 4.4% strength in the 1980s, while having 9.5% during the 1990s and by 2008 their strength increased to 12.1%. Among the countries that experienced the biggest growth of strength is the Netherlands. The strength of a populist party led by Pim Fortuyn was in 2001 similar to parties. 28. DOI:10.6814/NCCU201900161.

(37) in Germany or Sweden, however a year later, in 2002 election, the party reached 17% (Koopmans et al., 2012).. Christian Joppke argues that countries of the European Union and the people living in it failed big time in integration of the refugees, which according to him is one of the causes of recent waves of terrorist attacks committed by Islamists. Joppke believes that the receiving society is to blame for inertia and prejudice, rather than blaming the migrants for lack of effort or inclination. He sees the problem in immigrants not being guaranteed the same equal treatment,. 政治大. because they do not possess the same citizenship. Until they receive their new citizenship, they are not equal (Joppke, 2007).. 立. ‧ 國. 學. Mikael Hjerm focuses his research on Sweden and in his article, he sums up the above-. ‧. mentioned points. As Europe is going through a change, that arises insecure feelings in people.. sit. y. Nat. The paradigm shift indeed exists, where people punish the traditional established parties by. io. er. voting for the right-wing populist ones, because they just do not trust them anymore. He brings one more aspect to the table, and that is how one’s family background shapes the attitude. al. n. v i n towards immigration. If a personC comes a family that emigrated, this person is less likely h efrom ngchi U to feel hatred towards other immigrants. He says that factors, such as gender, whether being a local or immigrant, father’s education and common knowledge, determine xenophobic attitudes. He suggests Europe to start focusing on education as it plays an essential role in one’s. life, Education must start paying closer attention to values connected to multiculturalism and democracy, otherwise Europe is going to encounter severe complications in the future (Hjerm, 2005).. 29. DOI:10.6814/NCCU201900161.

(38) 3.5 Possible ways to tackle this issue The major issues were pointed out. Europe is having a hard time dealing with all the incoming immigrants and in case of cultural integration, there is a certain failure. This struggle reflects on international cooperation which stagnates, member states retreat from their commitments or refuse to contribute or to share the burden. Another problem is that education does not play its role enough to help ease the situation for the states and contribute that way in lowering xenophobia. So, what do scholars recommend countries to do in order to solve this problem?. 政治大 Countries should aim at uniting 立 the increased diversity by integrating the immigrants socially,. In case of cultural integration one way to solve this might paying attention to social equality.. ‧ 國. 學. instead of striving for homogeneity. To create a healthy living environment for everyone – the locals and the newcomers – both member states and its citizens should recognize all the. ‧. different values and identities. Dijkstra et al. talk about that in order to achieve a peaceful. Nat. sit. y. coexistence of different backgrounds, both member states and its citizens must develop needed. n. al. er. io. instruments (Dijkstra et al., 2001). Mughan and Paxton mention an example, where they pick. i n U. v. Great Britain’s attitude towards multiculturalism, in which immigrants are asked to pass. Ch. engchi. English proficiency tests, through which they encourage the immigrants to embrace the new culture with its values and customs, as well as the British law (Mughan and Paxton. 2006).. Boswell (2000) suggests the states to embrace international cooperation, because issues such as asylum crisis are too much for states to deal with on their own. They should realize that cooperation within the region is absolutely necessary. This cooperation could guarantee a harmony of efforts among member countries and help them to identify and work with core issue of immigrants coming to the European continent. What complicates this whole process is that many states refuse to share this burden, so the European Union has to deal with this first, which 30. DOI:10.6814/NCCU201900161.

(39) makes this problem more complex. This calls, according to Boswell, for an integrated external policy, through which the asylum crisis could be addressed. Boswell sees it as an essential step in solving this whole issue. At the same time it creates a window for possible investments in prevention of potential disputes, humanitarian actions and development (Boswell, 2000).. His Holiness the Dalai Lama stresses that nationalism is a serious concern about how people think of their own community. He says that European Union is a good example of a successful integration. But he argues that politicians must show compassion for those in need.. 政治大. Discrimination against immigrants must stop now. We cannot ask Germany to accept 1 million of refugees every year. He says:. 立. ‧ 國. 學. “The future of individual nations always depends on the well-being of their neighbors. The. ‧. United States is dependent on Europe, Europe is likewise dependent on Asia and Africa, and so. y. Nat. forth. This is different today than in the past. The individual nations must also look after their. n. -. Ch. engchi. er. io. al. sit. neighbors. This is the new reality of our time”. His Holiness the Dalai Lama (2017). i n U. v. He makes one more argument, and that is that in the long run, refugees should go back to their country and rebuild it. These young men and women can learn professions and new technologies in European countries – this allows European countries to provide development assistance. He concludes that nobody leaves his homeland forever (Alt and Dalai Lama, 2017).. Education should also be Europe’s focus as it can help to address this issue. Sweden should not be the only country in European Union that teaches students about the importance of multicultural society and the values of liberal democracy. Schools should include. 31. DOI:10.6814/NCCU201900161.

(40) multiculturalism, different values, cultures etc. in their curriculum but also add teachings about liberal democracy and how participation in democracy and taking legal democratic actions or having a dialogue can help citizens to better understand and address this issue. According to Hjerm it might not make xenophobia disappear, however it might be a good way to start (Hjerm, 2005).. 3.6 Identity struggle and Constructivism One might say that it has been a long time since the establishment of European integration,. 政治大. which started in the 1950s, however for some countries with a complicated history, such as the. 立. Czech one, this process of integration and path to liberalism can be too fast. As mentioned. ‧ 國. 學. before, the 20th century had been rough for the nowadays Czech Republic. Starting it as a part of Austria-Hungary empire and after a couple of wars and invasions, finally getting its. ‧. independence in 1989. It is important to remember this, that the Czechoslovakia opened its. y. Nat. io. sit. borders in 1989 after the Velvet revolution, which is “only” 30 years ago. A big part of Czech. n. al. er. population grew up in the isolated communist regime and it is not only the case of the Czech. Ch. i n U. v. Republic, but other Eastern European countries have a similar past. Also, there has been a lot. engchi. of struggle in the process of democratization. The Czech Republic was “born” in 1993 after a divorce with Slovakia. So, the fact that the Czech Republic joined the European Union in 2004, only 11 years after gaining its independence and sovereignty, and willingly “giving up” this sovereignty, we cannot be surprised that things might have happened too fast for these countries and that along the way it has brought some identity struggles.. The ethnic identity belongs to social construction, which has very deep roots and is developed throughout the history, it is not only what we carry with us. People sometimes have a hard time building and maintaining a deep relationship with somebody that differs from them (Dijkstra et 32. DOI:10.6814/NCCU201900161.