Between Discourse and Practice : A Critical Analysis of the EU Migration Regime

Abstract: This thesis investigates how migration is framed in the public discourse of the European Union (EU) and in how far the discourse corresponds with the EU’s actions in the Mediterranean. A content analysis and critical discourse analysis of speeches and policy documents produced by the EU, identify that the discourse on migration is heavily focused on externalization and depoliticization. Migration is presented as a state of exception which allows for extraordinary measures. Biopolitics and Thanatopolitics are used as theoretical frameworks to argue that irregular migrants are places in a zone of indistinction and thus become bare life. While the EU emphasizes high human rights standards in its discourse, it fails to live up to these standards as illustrated by the EU’s alleged involvement in human rights violations in the Mediterranean.