Midterm: Geopolitics of Borders and Migrations in the European Union

Border

A border is not only a line dividing territories it is a social process that determines who belongs and who doesn't.

Bordering

The active process of drawing distinctions between insiders and outsiders. (Popescu, 2011) → Example: visa rules, asylum systems, physical fences.

Ordering

How borders maintain internal order by organizing people, spaces, and authority.

Othering

The cultural/psychological act of constructing 'the Other' the foreigner, the outsider, the threat.

Internal de-bordering

Open travel within the EU (Schengen).

External re-bordering

Tightened controls at outer frontiers.

Securitisation

The process of turning migration into a security issue, as if migrants were a threat to national safety or identity.

TREVI Group

First European security cooperation (anti-terrorism focus) established in the 1970s.

Schengen

A zone of 29 European countries that have abolished internal border controls, allowing for free movement without passport checks at common borders.

Frontex

European Border and Coast Guard.

Governmentality of Unease

Governments use fear to maintain legitimacy and control.

Reason for Securitisation

Economic benefits from the border-security industry

Political gain

Result of Securitisation

Migration is seen mainly as a threat, not a human or economic issue.

Leads to depoliticisation (less debate, more control).

Justifies violence and deaths

Josep Borrell's Quote

'Europe is a garden... the rest of the world is a jungle.' → Example of colonial and racial thinking in modern EU discourse.

Theatralisation

The border becomes a stage where the state performs control for its citizens a kind of political theatre.

Purpose of Theatralisation

To make migration visible and dramatize the threat.

Murray Edelman

Politics as symbolic performance.

Erving Goffman

Presentation of self in public life.

Guy Debord

Society of the Spectacle (power maintained through images).

Scene of Exclusion

The visible spectacle of arrests, fences, deportations makes 'illegality' look like the migrant's fault.

Obscene of Inclusion

Hidden truth: migrants are economically included through cheap labor, but socially excluded through law and fear.

Migrants' vulnerability

Deportability makes migrants exploitable, serving a function in the system.

Illegality

Created by law, not by migrants.

Racialisation

Connects migration to colonial histories and hierarchies of value.

Imagined 'Other'

Portrayed as poor, threatening, uncivilized, dark-skinned, or Muslim.

Colonial imagery

Re-uses depictions of the 'savage' or 'barbarian' to reinforce superiority.

Media representation

Shows 'masses' of Black men crossing borders, perpetuating stereotypes.

Spider-Man of Paris

Mamoudou Gassama accepted only after behaving heroically, illustrating conditional humanity.

Intersectional Lens

Analyzes race, class, and gender in the context of migration.

Visual media

Shapes public emotions and legitimizes policies.

Roland Barthes

Argues that photos seem objective but are selective and ideological.

Susan Sontag

States that photos reduce reality and can desensitize or manipulate empathy.

Bleiker et al. (2013)

Suggests that refugee images can humanize or dehumanize depending on framing.

Key Idea of framing

Decides meaning by including/excluding elements that signal worthiness of compassion or fear.

Ceuta (2021) photo analysis

Illustrates a 'white savior' narrative, shifting focus from policy to heroism.

Melilla (2014) photo analysis

Evokes danger and chaos, dehumanizing migrants through imagery of crowds.

Invasion of savages rhetoric

Links migration to skin color and colonial stereotypes.

Class perception of migrants

Poor migrants seen as burdens or criminals.

Gender representation

Women depicted as victims or heroes; men as threats.

Normalization of Violence

Deaths at sea, detention, and pushbacks become routine.

Depoliticization

Migration framed as 'security management' rather than ethical debate.

Re-drawing of Global Color Lines

Reinforces a racial hierarchy equating Europe with civilization and the Global South with chaos.

Necropolitics (Mbembe 2003)

States decide who lives and dies; migrants exist in zones of exception.

Perpetual Crisis Narrative

Frames every new arrival as an emergency, justifying expanded security powers.

Didier Bigo (2002)

Describes the governmentality of unease where fear is maintained to justify control.

Jef Huysmans

Discusses securitization of migration, turning it into a security issue that legitimizes exceptional policies.

Nicholas De Genova (2013)

Introduces the concept of Border Spectacle, theatrical enforcement that obscures migrant inclusion and labor exploitation.

Paolo Cuttitta (2012)

Explores the spectacle of border control.

Guy Debord (1967)

Argues that modern power operates through images and appearances.

Edelman & Goffman

Suggest that politics functions like a performance where symbols matter more than reality.

Susan Sontag (1980)

Photos shape moral responses and desensitize viewers.

Achille Mbembe (2003)

Necropolitics: Borders decide who may die; control through exposure to danger.

Du Bois (1999)

Global Color Line: Racial inequality defines modern geopolitics.

Borders

The territorial limits of the (nation)state; the line that demarcates the extension of given territory.

Popescu (2011)

Defines the border as both a line and a process: as a line, it demarcates sovereignty and territory; as a process, it organizes relations between people, states, and identities.

Modern bordering

Less about geography, more about classification and regulation (who may move, work, stay).

EU Bordering

Includes visa policies, asylum procedures, and biometric systems like EURODAC- the border travels with the migrant.

Schengen regime

Shows how ordering works: internal borders relaxed, but external ones hardened.

EU's external filtering system

Orders space through visa tiers, safe-country lists, and carrier sanctions, turning geography into an administrative hierarchy.

The Mirror Effect

The 'other' (migrant, refugee, outsider) reflects and stabilizes the European 'self' rational, secure, orderly.

Territorial Trap

Borders provide psychological reassurance amid global change.

Identity anxiety

Fear of losing distinctiveness intensifies demands for strict bordering.

The Border Paradox

Borders are simultaneously: barriers and bridges; exclusionary and integrative.

Peace of Westphalia (1648)

Established the principle of territorial sovereignty; states control what happens within their borders.

Pre-Westphalian Europe

Characterized by overlapping authorities (kings, clergy, nobles).

Post-Westphalia

Defined by singular state authority, mapped boundaries, and legal borders.

Colonial legacy

Exported the system of territorial sovereignty globally, forcing fluid societies into fixed national containers.

Globalization and Re-Bordering

Globalization transformed borders rather than erased them.

New border characteristics

Technological: databases, biometrics, surveillance networks; Externalized: enforced through third-country agreements; Internalized: migrants policed through residence checks and integration tests.

De-bordering

The process of reducing border controls internally, as seen in the Schengen Area.

Re-bordering

The establishment or strengthening of border controls externally, often in response to migration pressures.

Loop of Crisis

A cycle in EU migration management where a crisis is declared, leading to exceptional measures, new routes, and subsequent crises.

Crisisification

The process of framing situations as crises to justify extraordinary governance measures.

Emergency-Based Governmentality

A form of governance that uses crisis language to bypass normal legal procedures and increase surveillance.

Governmentality

A concept by Foucault referring to the way power governs populations through knowledge, data, and normalization.

Aporophobia

The fear of the poor, which can lead to their criminalization and marginalization.

Crisis Assemblages

An interlinked web of states, EU agencies, private contractors, and NGOs activated by each migration crisis.

Enforcement Through Rescue

The repurposing of humanitarian actions, such as search-and-rescue, as mechanisms of control.

Normalization of Exceptionality

The process by which temporary emergencies become routine administrative practices.

Humanitarian-Security Nexus

The blending of humanitarian aid and security control that blurs moral boundaries.

Public-Private Interdependence

The reliance on partnerships between EU institutions, national police, private technology firms, and NGOs for border control.

The TALOS Project

A €19.5M EU-funded program developing autonomous robotic surveillance systems for border control.

Crisis

A situation that is framed as an emergency to justify extraordinary governance measures.

Security-Industrial Complex

The relationship between security agencies and private industries that benefit from increased border security measures.

Militarization of Borders

The process of increasing military presence and technology at national borders as a response to migration.

Exceptional Governance

Governance that operates outside of normal legal frameworks, often justified by crises.

Benevolent Violence

Control measures that are framed as compassionate actions but may involve coercive practices.

Political Capital

The use of visible targets, such as immigrants, to reinforce state legitimacy.

Penalization of Poverty

The criminalization of marginalized groups, particularly the poor, as a means of stabilizing political authority.

Surveillance Technologies

Advanced tools such as drones, sensors, and satellites used for border control and monitoring.

Crisis Management

The strategies employed by governments to handle migration crises, often leading to increased control measures.

EURODAC

Fingerprint database to identify asylum seekers and prevent multiple claims.

SIS (Schengen Information System)

Tracks wanted persons, visa overstayers, and alerts.

VIS (Visa Information System)

Connects consular offices to border posts.

General biometric sources

Fingerprints, retina, iris, facial patterns, hand veins, palm geometry.

Externalization of Borders

EU funds and equips non-EU states (Libya, Tunisia, Turkey) to act as 'gatekeepers.'

Consequences of Externalization

Includes human rights abuses in detention centers but political distance for EU states.

Jeandesboz & Pallister-Wilkins (2014)

Focuses on operational and political management of crisis.

Key Process: Bordering, Ordering, Othering

Processes involved in managing borders.

Crisisification and Enforcement

Key process identified by Jeandesboz & Pallister-Wilkins.