Making Sense of the Migration-Fear Nexus: Culture of Fear and its Consequences for Political Discourse : A Political Critical Discourse Analysis of Hart aber fair in the German Migration Debate (2013-2017)

Abstract: Fear is a challenge for European democracies today that is discussed in the same breath as rising populism and anti-immigrant speech. However, it seems that fear has also become a defining principle for Western (post)modern society in many other areas of life. This observation has been framed by the term culture of fear and described by recognized sociologists like Ulrich Beck, Zygmunt Bauman and Frank Furedi. They argue that changing social conditions like individualisation and globalisation have altered Western society’s preoccupation with security, uncertainty and risk. In consequence, Bauman and Furedi talk about a fear that has become “free-floating” and “liquid”. This research project asks about the implications of such a culture of fear for society and takes a closer look at what has been described as politics of fear. By conducting a critical political discourse analysis of the political talk show hart aber fair, this paper aims at tracing politics of fear in the German discourse over migration during the “refugee crisis” (2015-2017). In a three-tiered approach, the investigation embarks by defining culture of fear and its social premises, followed by a discussion of politics of fear theories drawing upon such concepts as precaution, prevention and securitisation. Emerging from this discussion, both a “traditional” politics with fear and a (post)modern politics of uncertainty are identified. The subsequent analysis of a selected hart aber fair episode from the 5th September 2016 bases on Siegfried Jäger’s approach to Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) and examines the argumentation and interaction of the guests in the debate. The findings indicate that in addition to the use of fear as a political means for populist politicians, the narrative of the “fearful society” has on a whole permeated the German political discourse over migration. Hence, culture of fear offers a new perspective for the understanding of political discourse and the current developments in political practice.