European Union’s Extraterritorialisation of Migration Management: The Expanding and Diminishing Agency of States, Migrants and Refugees : How can we understand the European Union’s use of extraterritorial management of migration?

Abstract: In the face of the ‘refugee crisis’ and increased irregular migration flows, EU member states have taken up extraterritorial actions to address their migration problems. This thesis introduces three critical notions; the modern state, the agency of the third states and the agency of the migrant, to create an inclusive framework prior to analysing EU’s extraterritorial management of migration. It then explores the EU’s extraterritorial management of migration by investigating the EU’s relations with four different non-EU states, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Libya, Morocco and Turkey. Throughout the analysis power imbalances between the EU and third states and issues of state sovereignty are brought up. It is argued that the third states see their agency diminished as a result of the EU’s border reaffirmation attempts. Border reaffirmation is done through offshoring responsibility and accountability by providing financial aid and other forms of support to third states. As a result of this form of offshoring, agency of migrants and refugees are also diminished as they have limited agency over their destination and see their rights being abused in the processes of extraterritorialisation of migration management. This thesis underlines the mismatches between the EU’s commitments to human and refugee rights and their actions of extraterritorialisation.