HOW DOES CONTEMPORARY EU MIGRATION GOVERNANCE PRODUCE AND SUSTAIN UNEQUAL ACCESS TO MOBILITY?
Author
Boateng, Richmond
Term
4. semester
Education
Publication year
2026
Submitted on
2026-05-29
Abstract
This thesis investigates how EU migration governance produces and sustains unequal access to mobility by asking: Who gets to move in contemporary Europe, and why? Working across three levels—the structural, the institutional, and the governmental—it brings together Bauman’s notion of global stratification of mobility (tourists/vagabonds), Goldberg’s theory of the racial state, and Foucault’s concept of governmentality to show how ostensibly neutral rules yield unequal outcomes. Methodologically, it uses a qualitative, document-based approach to five key EU instruments—the 2020 Pact on Migration and Asylum, the Visa Code, the Dublin III Regulation, the Eurodac Regulation, and Frontex’s Annual Risk Analysis 2021—applying critical discourse analysis to the Frontex report to examine how the language of risk and management constructs migration as a permanent security problem. The findings indicate that the Visa Code and the 2020 Pact institutionalize a hierarchy of mobility that mirrors global inequalities of wealth and power; that Dublin III and Eurodac reproduce racialized outcomes through neutral legal categories; and that Frontex frames migration as a constant challenge requiring ongoing governmental management. Taken together, these dynamics form a powerful, pervasive, and largely invisible system that advantages some populations and disadvantages others, thereby sustaining unequal access to movement.
Denne afhandling undersøger, hvordan EU’s migrationsstyring producerer og opretholder ulige adgang til mobilitet ved at stille spørgsmålet: Hvem får lov at bevæge sig i samtiden – og hvorfor? Med udgangspunkt i tre analytiske niveauer – det strukturelle, det institutionelle og det styringstekniske – kombinerer studiet Bauman’s idé om global mobilitetsstratificering (turist/vagabond), Goldberg’s teori om den raciale stat og Foucault’s governmentality for at vise, hvordan tilsyneladende neutrale regler skaber skæve udfald. Metodisk bygger afhandlingen på en kvalitativ, dokumentbaseret analyse af fem centrale EU-tekster: Pagten om migration og asyl (2020), Visakodeksen, Dublin III-forordningen, Eurodac-forordningen og Frontex’ Annual Risk Analysis 2021, med kritisk diskursanalyse af Frontex-rapporten for at belyse, hvordan risikosprog og forvaltningslogikker konstruerer migration som et vedvarende sikkerhedsproblem. Fundene viser, at Visakodeksen og 2020-pagten institutionaliserer et mobilitetshierarki, der afspejler globale uligheder i rigdom og magt; at Dublin III og Eurodac reproducerer racialiserede udfald gennem neutrale juridiske kategorier; og at Frontex rammesætter migration som en permanent udfordring, der kræver konstant styring. Samlet peger analysen på et gennemgribende, effektivt og for mange usynligt styringssystem, der giver fordele til nogle befolkningsgrupper og ulemper til andre, og dermed opretholder ulige adgang til at rejse.
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