From Welcome to Weariness: Understanding Integration Fatigue in Contemporary Europe: A Conceptual Exploration of Emotional, Institutional, and Societal Exhaustion (with a Focus on Western and Northern European Societies, 2019–2025)

This conceptual paper examines the emerging phenomenon of integration fatigue in contemporary Europe, with a focus on Western and Northern societies between 2019 and 2025. Once characterised by solidarity and empathy during the 2015 refugee influx (Triandafyllidou, 2018), Europe now faces emotional, institutional, and societal exhaustion. Drawing on theoretical perspectives from migration, psychology, and sociology (Betts, 2021; Miller and Goodman, 2022), the study proposes a three-dimensional framework of integration fatigue: emotional fatigue (the decline of public empathy and compassion) (Bauman, 2019), institutional fatigue (policy overload and bureaucratic stagnation) (Scholten and Penninx, 2020), and societal fatigue (polarisation and the erosion of collective trust) (Eberl et al., 2021). The paper argues that the COVID-19 pandemic intensified pre-existing strains (Dahlberg et al., 2022), transforming integration from a hopeful moral project into a contested, draining process. Rather than viewing fatigue merely as resistance, this article interprets it as a symptom of overextended emotional and institutional capacities (Kleist, 2023). It concludes by suggesting that “sustainable integration energy” requires renewed emotional literacy, resilient governance, and inclusive communication strategies (Isin and Nyers, 2020; Favell, 2023). By reframing fatigue as both a challenge and a diagnostic tool, this study contributes to understanding Europe’s shifting integration landscape and offers new directions for theory and policy.