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In the United Kingdom, the current debate centers upon, not just migration in general, or the generic migration of refugees, but in particular upon those who arrive across the channel in small boats. To take another example, the government in Syria has absolutely no interest in facilitating the return of a large majority of refugees who have fled Syria in recent years. [Extracted from the article]

This paper commences with some general observations on Poland's kin-state policy followed by an analysis of that element of kin-state policy concerned with the Polish minority in Germany. The paper argues that the recent invigoration of kin-state politics cannot be viewed in isolation from wider global political trends. Rather it contends that this increased concern with the fate of claimed ethnic kin is part of a wider trend towards the privileging of identity politics. It is further argued that in turn this impulse is located within the growth of populism, the celebration of parochialism, anti-globalisation sentiment and Euroscepticism, all of which have been fuelled by the financial crash of 2007/2008. The paper concludes by pointing to a paradox between the pursuit of policies that seek to prioritise ethnic identification with a kin-state and the commitment of member-states of the European Union to ever-closer union among the peoples of Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]