ABSTRACT

Institutional Racism (IR) in Europe is rarely mentioned in studies of race-based discrimination. Yet, structural racism occurs within most European societies. Due to the increasing securitization of immigration, countries have introduced several (in)formal strategies to exclude foreign populations. Given that, we propose an updated way of conceptualizing IR to uncover contemporary manifestations and practices of structural racist discrimination in a European country. By concentrating on the case of Belgium and, in particular, on family reunification, we first operationalize Agamben’s “state of exception” to show how exceptional measures applying to non-nationals conflict with other constitutional and international legal frameworks. As we discuss, such incompatible legal tools generate space for racist considerations to drive judicial decisions involving non-nationals. Second, in relying on Foucault’s governmentality, we explore migrants’ everyday experience of administrative discrimination – as the same procedures are implemented differently on foreigners of diverse nationalities.

摘要

在基于种族的歧视研究中很少提及欧洲的制度种族主义 (IR)。然而，结构性种族主义发生在大多数欧洲社会中。由于移民的日益安全化，各国已经引入了几种（非）正式的策略来排除外国人口。鉴于此，我们提出了一种将 IR 概念化的更新方法，以揭示欧洲国家结构性种族主义歧视的当代表现形式和做法。通过关注比利时的案例，尤其是家庭团聚，我们首先将阿甘本的“例外状态”付诸实践，以展示适用于非国民的例外措施如何与其他宪法和国际法律框架相冲突。在我们讨论时，这种不相容的法律工具为种族主义考虑创造了空间，以推动涉及非国民的司法裁决。其次，我们依靠福柯的政府性，探索移民日常行政歧视的经历——同样的程序对不同国籍的外国人实施不同。