The European Union : shaping migration governance in Europe and beyond

Abstract

This chapter examines the extent to which forms of migration governance beyond the state can shape international migration and also reshape relations between states. It shows how this can happen both through the ordering practices of the European Union related to the borders and boundaries of its member states and through its relations with nonmember states and regions. Particular attention is paid to the oft-used but often ambiguous term “governance.” An understanding of governance is developed that emphasizes not only the outputs or outcomes of governance (laws, policies, and the like) but also the understandings and representations of migration that necessarily underpin it. The argument in short is that the EU actively contributes to rebordering, by which is meant that the perceived need to protect the internal European space and its project of market integration has seen limits placed on both free movement for EU citizens and efforts to more tightly regulate the external borders of the EU’s member states. These external bordering efforts are particularly focused on migrants from Africa and the Middle East, which suggests that rebordering is also racialized.