Fighting the #AntiRefugeeBill - Civil Society Mobilisation Against the Nationality and Borders Bill and the Hostile Political Environment for Migrants in the UK
Authors
Nilsson, Mahela Madeleine ; Spelliscy, Brynn Siobhan Trask ; Mc Intyre, Maria Kleivan
Term
4. term
Education
Publication year
2022
Submitted on
2022-05-31
Abstract
This thesis examines how migrant-focused civil society organizations (CSOs) in the United Kingdom mobilized online against the Nationality and Borders Bill amid a ‘hostile environment’ for migrants. Using Twitter data collected from 1 July 2021 to 31 March 2022, it maps the movement’s digital strategies and discursive framing as the Bill advanced through Parliament toward its final vote. Guided by social movement theory and the concepts of digital repertoires of contention, core framing tasks, and migrant solidarity, the study employs a mixed-methods design that combines quantitative and qualitative analysis. First, it compares tactics and frames across organizational levels of establishment (grassroots, mid-level, and well-established) through manual coding of 750 tweets sampled from 124 CSOs. Second, it conducts in-depth case studies of three influential ‘power users’ within the mobilization network—Refugee Action, Detention Action, and the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants—by coding all their tweets related to the Bill. While the movement did not achieve its collective goal of impeding the Bill’s progress, the analysis identifies successes in other aspects of the online mobilization. The study offers an empirically grounded account of how UK CSOs used Twitter to coordinate, communicate, and contest the Bill, helping to bridge a knowledge gap on civil society’s online engagement with restrictive migration policy.
Dette speciale undersøger, hvordan migrantcentrerede civilsamfundsorganisationer (CSO’er) i Storbritannien mobiliserede online mod Nationality and Borders Bill i et politisk ‘fjendtligt miljø’ for migranter. Med Twitter-data indsamlet fra 1. juli 2021 til 31. marts 2022 kortlægges bevægelsens digitale strategier og diskursive indramning, mens lovforslaget bevægede sig gennem den parlamentariske proces frem mod den endelige afstemning. Analysen er forankret i socialbevægelsesteori og begreberne digitale repertoirer af protest, centrale framing-opgaver og migrantsolidaritet og anvender et mixed-methods design, der kombinerer kvantitativ og kvalitativ tilgang. Først sammenlignes taktikker og frames på tværs af organisationsniveauer (græsrods-, mellem- og veletablerede) via manuel kodning af 750 tweets udvalgt fra 124 CSO’er. Dernæst gennemføres dybdegående casestudier af tre indflydelsesrige ‘power users’ i mobiliseringsnetværket—Refugee Action, Detention Action og Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants—baseret på kodning af alle deres tweets om lovforslaget. Selvom bevægelsen ikke lykkedes med sit fælles mål om at bremse lovforslagets fremdrift, identificerer studiet succeser i andre aspekter af mobiliseringen. Specialet bidrager med et empirisk indblik i, hvordan britiske CSO’er brugte Twitter til at koordinere, kommunikere og udfordre lovforslaget, og hjælper med at bygge bro over en videnkløft om civilsamfundets online modstand mod restriktiv migrationspolitik.
[This apstract has been generated with the help of AI directly from the project full text]