They are then unpacked and analysed with respect to their referents of justice (e.g. In this article, five narratives on migration are identified – solidarity, responsibility, a state-centred Westphalian narrative, and instrumental and humanitarian ones.

It turns out that different justice conceptions may co-exist. What is considered appropriate for tackling the phenomenon, in turn, depends on which conceptions of justice are given priority in the press’ framing of issues. The analysis aims to reveal the worldviews and justice claims embedded in them.ĭebates on the ethics of migration and on what justice represents in this domain are taking on new vigour and for good reason: migration is one of those issues in which a synthesis between theory and practice has not yet been worked out, even though the situation today highlights the urgency of narrowing this gap to provide ethically informed responses. Narratives are considered cognitive devices which provide an interpretation of a complex event by making empirical claims of the causes and dynamics of the phenomenon in question and by pointing to causal relations between actions and events (D'Amato and Lucarelli 2019).

Specifically, it looks for the main ‘narratives’ that emerged with respect to selected events. In line with the blueprint of this Special Issue given in the Introduction (D’Amato and Lucarelli 2019), this article investigates how the Italian press reported some important events having to do with migration in Europe. Italy is no exception, and its geographic position in the Mediterranean and institutional membership in the system of governance of the European Union (EU) (Lucarelli and Fassi 2017), together with ingrained domestic specificities add a distinct flavour to the direction and content of this debate. That migration should resonate so widely and loudly in public debates was predictable, given both the increasing ‘politicisation’ of the issue and its intersection with the recent economic and social challenges facing many states.

Così è la vita meaning