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Paper short abstract

This paper examines how the national security discourse with 'hybrid war' as one of its key concepts has shaped the approach and response to irregular migration in Latvia.

Paper long abstract

Since summer 2021, when people on the move started arriving at the border between Belarus and the EU countries - Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland - the discourse of national security with the concept of 'hybrid war' as its core element has shaped Latvian policies and actions concerning irregular migration.

This has resulted not only in extraordinary policy and legal measures such as prolonged state of emergency and denial of access to asylum, but also in an increasing dehumanisation of people on the move as ‘instruments’ or ‘weapons’ of the war to be disposed of for the sake of national security.

In view of the war in Ukraine and the ensuing processes of securitisation and militarisation, the continuous arrival of people at the Latvia/EU-Belarus border has been treated as ‘hybrid war’ waged by the Belarussian and Russian regimes. Moreover, it has been conflated with a potential military aggression by the neighbouring countries. Thus, people on the move are seen as a direct threat to the state, often labelled as probable terrorists, ‘invaders,’ and criminals. By discursive reversal, potential asylum seekers exposed to state violence are posited as perpetrators of violence themselves.

The paper also tries to show the conceptual and material effects of the dominant national security discourse limit dissenting perspectives, alternative voices, and actions.