Why is people’s movement restricted?

This chapter examines why, in an increasingly interconnected world, people’s movement is still restricted, and it considers how these restrictions limit who is able to move, and where these populations can move. Focusing on the aftermath of the European migration crisis in 2015, the chapter traces the rise in xenophobic political discourse alongside the more restrictive immigration and asylum policies aimed at curtailing the number of asylum seekers arriving at the borders of European states. It argues that these policies are often targeted at certain racialized groups, which are presented as an existential threat to the national community within anti-immigrant, and anti-asylum seeker discourses. When it comes to understanding why people’s movement is restricted and how their movement is restricted, this chapter suggests that we must also pay close attention to whose movement is restricted.