Externalizing Governance, Externalizing Disorder: A Discursive Examination of EU Migration Governance through Third Country Partnerships
Author
Klausen, Nete Buch
Term
4. semester
Education
Publication year
2026
Submitted on
2026-06-15
Pages
81
Abstract
This thesis examines how language, concepts, and narratives (discursive practices) shape the EU’s governance of migration. While the EU promotes human rights and democracy, these values are increasingly challenged by migration flows. EU border practices have been criticized for undermining these values through externalization—shifting control and responsibility to third countries such as Tunisia. Migration thus becomes a key lens for exploring both the limits and possibilities of EU governance. The thesis adopts a poststructuralist view of borders as made through language, discourse, and the actors who enact them. The analysis centers on the EU’s New Pact on Migration and Asylum (2020). Drawing on a Foucauldian view of discourse as constitutive of power, the idea of "regimes of mobility" (the frameworks that enable or restrict movement), the "legal production of illegality" (how law creates categories of illegality), Ole Wæver’s securitization theory (portraying an issue as a security threat), and Niklas Luhmann’s systems theory, the thesis argues that the EU relies on specific discursive distinctions that structure both communication and governance. The findings show a consistent framing of migration along a spectrum from legal and beneficial to illegal and problematic. This spectrum serves as a rational basis for both excluding and admitting migrants, allowing the EU to construct its own categories and subjects of governance. Illegal migration is framed as an existential threat that produces disorder and could destabilize the political system. This leads to a securitized discourse and a governing logic in which "order" becomes the criterion of success. Within this logic, externalization appears as an effective tool because it pushes migrants—and thus potential disorder—outside the EU’s operational and legal responsibilities. Externalization creates a "space of exception" (Agamben) where rules can be bent and justified by the perceived threat. In this way, externalization outsources disorder to constitute internal order and is understood as meaningful migration governance within current EU discourse.
Dette speciale undersøger, hvordan sprog, begreber og fortællinger (diskursive praksisser) former EU’s styring af migration. EU bygger på menneskerettigheder og demokrati, men disse værdier udfordres af migrationsstrømme. Særligt er EU’s grænsepraksisser blevet kritiseret for at undergrave egne værdier gennem eksternalisering – at flytte kontrol og ansvar til tredjelande som fx Tunesien. Migration bliver dermed en central linse til at udforske både grænserne og mulighederne for EU’s styring. Specialet bidrager til en poststrukturalistisk forståelse af grænser, hvor grænser ses som noget, der skabes gennem sprog, diskurs og de aktører, der sætter dem i værk. Analysen tager udgangspunkt i EU’s New Pact on Migration and Asylum (2020). Med inspiration fra Michel Foucaults idé om diskurs som magt, Glick Schiller og Salazars begreb om "regimes of mobility" (rammer for bevægelighed), De Genovas idé om den juridiske produktion af "ulovlighed", Wævers teori om sikkerhedsliggørelse (at fremstille et emne som en sikkerhedstrussel) og Luhmanns systemteori, argumenterer specialet for, at EU bygger på bestemte sproglige skel, der strukturerer både kommunikation og styring. Fundene viser, at migration konsekvent rammesættes på et spektrum fra lovlig og gavnlig til ulovlig og problematisk. Dette spektrum bruges som rationel begrundelse for både at udelukke og at give adgang til migranter og skaber dermed EU’s egne kategorier og styringssubjekter. Ulovlig migration fremstilles som en eksistentiel trussel, der kan skabe uorden og destabilisere det politiske system. Det fører til en sikkerhedsliggjort diskurs og en styringslogik, hvor "orden" bliver kriteriet for succes. I denne logik fremstår eksternalisering som et effektivt redskab, fordi det flytter migranter – og dermed potentiel uorden – uden for EU’s operationelle og juridiske ansvar. Eksternalisering skaber et "undtagelsesrum" (Agamben), hvor regler kan bøjes og legitimeres med henvisning til den opfattede trussel. Således outsourcer eksternalisering uorden for at konstituere intern orden og forstås dermed som meningsfuld migrationsstyring i EU’s nuværende diskurs.
[This apstract has been rewritten with the help of AI based on the project's original abstract]
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