BRIDGES – Bridges to assess the production and impact of migration narratives

BRIDGES aims to understand migration narratives in a context of increasing politicisation and polarisation by focusing on six European countries: France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom, looking also at the EU level.

The project pursues a three-fold objective. First, it seeks to understand the processes of narrative production and impact and their mutual interaction. To do so, it analyses why some migration narratives become dominant over others in public and political debates from a historical perspective, as well as how these narratives impact: individual attitudes towards migration in Europe, potential migrants’ decisions in countries of origin and transit, and policy decisions at the EU and national levels. Moreover, BRIDGES analyses how individuals and policymakers become themselves narrative producers and how they influence each other.

At the policy level, the project fosters more evidence-based policies by developing strategies to respond to populist narratives and providing policymakers with recommendations on how to redress a tendency towards increasingly symbolic policies in the field of migration and integration.

At the societal level, the project aims at creating spaces for dialogue and exchange of innovative good practices among the different actors involved in the process of narrative production.

Funding: European Union – Horizon Europe