The Securitization Cycle: Vietnamese Migration in The Czech Republic

This article examines how securitized governmentality shapes Czech migration policy, particularly for Vietnamese migrants. Grounded in a humanizing approach and drawing upon the Paris School securitization theory and governmentality, this research explores how security-driven logics become embedded in institutional practices, shaping migration governance and restricting legal pathways. Through interviews with migration professionals from the Czech Ministry of the Interior, municipalities, integration centres, and NGOs, this study reveals contrasting institutional perspectives. The Ministry of the Interior frames Vietnamese migration as a security risk, linking it to illicit brokerage networks and justifying restrictive policies. Treating integration as secondary, it prioritizes control measures; NGOs and local actors highlight how exclusionary policies push migrants toward informal community structures for support. This dynamic creates a self-reinforcing cycle of securitization, rooted in the interaction between securitized institutional logics and community dynamics. This study demonstrates how these interactions shape migration governance, reinforce exclusion, and deepen migrant vulnerability.

Disclaimer: This article is part of AspirE’s forthcoming collection of empirical papers in International Migration journal (Volume 64, Issue 2). These papers draw from policy content analysis and semi-structured interviews with migration experts (Work Package 2 data collection).