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A difficult inflection point(World News, IR)

The burgeoning migrant crisis in Europe has become the latest Rorschach test, both for commentators and for thelarger public.

Those of a liberal and progressive bent (often self-proclaimed as such) laud nations—most notably Germany—that have thrown their doors open to large numbers of assorted refugees and migrants, while at the same timedecrying other nations—such as the UK, the US and France—who have been less generous. Neoconservativesand foreign policy hawks (again, often self-proclaimed) fret that more than a smattering of potential Islamistterrorists (whether ISIS, Al Qaeda, or otherwise affiliated) have embedded themselves within the migrant flow, andwill quickly establish new terror cells, or tie up with existing ones, once they are comfortably ensconced within thegates of Fortress Europe.

Economics analysts, meanwhile, see the current migration crisis in Europe as a reminder of the asymmetry of thetreatment of labour as against capital in the institutions of global governance as currently constituted. Not to beoutdone, assorted security affairs scholars are quick to proclaim from their perches in universities and think tanksthat the refugee problem is but a symptom of the much larger political and military crisis unfolding in the region ofWest Asia.

Highlighting a different set of concerns, nativists and protectionists (rarely self-proclaimed, but easy to identify assuch) find common cause, and argue that the bulk of the putative refugees are, in fact, economic migrants, andthat they will put pressure on the social welfare infrastructure, and the social and cultural fabric, of the states towhich they migrate. At the same time, cultural theorists and those given to philosophical maundering (often hard todistinguish) note that the migration of tens, or in the near future, perhaps even hundreds of thousands of Muslimsinto the heart of European Christendom represents a unique inflection point in recent world history, in whichadherents of one large proselytizing religion find themselves at the mercy of the adherents of the world’s othermajor proselytizing religion—creating the possibility that Mohammed will become Martin, as evangelic Protestantsand zealous Roman Catholics seek the harvesting of countless Muslim souls who just happened to have washedup on their shores, penniless and in need of succour.

This is just a scattershot of the varied (and variously ill- or well-informed) opinions from the Anglo-Americancommentariat, each trying to strike close to the bullseye of a cherished ideological tenet, opinion, prejudice oranalytical framework (the latter often indistinguishable from a hotchpotch of the first three).

Meanwhile, progressive and liberal opinion in India (these are always loudly self-proclaimed) sees in the Syrianrefugee crisis an opportunity for India to step up to the high table of global governance, by voluntarily agreeing toaccept and house large numbers of migrants—thereby acceding to the responsibilities inherent in putativeregional or world leadership without, of course, partaking of the requisite rights which flow as a matter of course tothe hegemon in the current global political economy, who may or may not choose to accept responsibilitiescommensurate with their power within the system. (Cue, at this juncture, a boilerplate critique of the US failing tolive up to its leadership role in the system as the principal provider of global public goods, which ought to be in itslong term, enlightened self-interest.)

In some contexts, the Rorschach test takes on a local colouration. The photograph of a toddler washed up on abeach —which, in a culture of the image, galvanized global attention and an outburst of collective angst onFacebook—struck a particularly poignant chord in Canada, from where I write this column. Early media reportssuggested that the dead child’s family had sought, and had been refused, asylum in Canada. No matter that thereports were quickly falsified, as it was revealed that no application had been received: the damage was done.

Quickly, the trope of a callous and uncaring Conservative government presided over by a heartless and tone-deafleader, Prime Minister Stephen Harper, became fodder for an ongoing federal election campaign, and seemed toturn the tide—emotionally, if not yet in polling numbers—against the embattled incumbent. The meme of the dead

Syrian child became, thus, a badge of honour for all those who opposed the ruling dispensation, whether or notthey had especially strong or well-formed views on the Syrian situation or on the political economy of globalmigration. What is more, refugee policy—seldom a hot-button political topic in socially progressive Canada—suddenly came out of left field to whack the beleaguered Tories over the head and vault into contention as a bonafide election issue. Indeed, if Harper’s Conservatives do end up losing the election, it may have more to do withthe image of Aylan Kurdi’s body washed up on the shore, and the apparent lack of an empathetic response by theprime minister, than it does with any dispassionate analysis of the government’s track record or assessment of thealternatives on offer.

But that is because reactions to Kurdi’s image tell us more about those reacting than it does about the benightedinfant: a true Rorschach test, indeed.

Every fortnight, In the Margins explores the intersection of economics, politics and public policy to help cast lighton current affairs.