Social Impacts Of Syrian Refugees

“Everything is happening at once and everything is happening to everybody” is a quote from the World Service Authority’s article “World Citizenship Defined” (Lechner & Boli 492). This quote means to say that what happens in the world affects everyone in one way or another. In a sort of butterfly effect phenomenon, the civil war in the Syrian Arab Republic and the ensuing flight of several million Syrians across Europe has affected the economies of several countries, albeit in different ways and in varying degrees. The immigration policies possessed by Germany and Greece affect neoliberalism at different rates and in different ways. The economic and sociological aspects of the exodus of Syrian refugees are impacting the states which the refugees …show more content…
The Journal on Migration and Human Security published a comparative study on Germany, the United States, Sweden, and the United Kingdom and how each respective country received Syrian refugees. The study’s author Nicole Ostrand stated, “[b]y the end of 2014, Germany had provided protection to the largest number of Syrians (approximately 67,000)” (Ostrand 271). Kate Connolly interviewed a Syrian refugee living in Germany. The ensuing article discusses the first-hand account of a resettlement success story of Firas Alshater. Alshater is a 24-year-old Syrian refugee living in Germany. The civil war broke out when Alshater was studying at university, and he quickly joined the rebel forces. One way he contributed to the resistance was by creating anti-government films and distributing documented footage of what he saw happening in his country. He was imprisoned and tortured by the secret police for nine months, but was found by his family who paid for his release. But his fight had just begun; the young rebel was soon captured again by extremist forces who tortured him again. Upon release, the brave young man fled Syria and headed to Germany. He claimed asylum in the country shortly after arrival. The basis of his claim was that he feared …show more content…
His journey makes the plight, pain, trials, and suffering of refugees tangible; the people behind the numbers are suddenly more than statistical figures flashed on a television screen during a news cycle or stamped in ink in a journal. Alshater is an example of the good that can happen when a country opens its borders, arms, and mind to vulnerable foreigners. But not all such migrants are as lucky as