The Securitization of Migrants - A critical discourse analysis of migration in EU policy

Abstract: This thesis studies the European Union’s policy Global Approach to Migration and Mobility (GAMM) and how migration is discursively described and securitized. GAMM is a foundational framework for EU migration and asylum policy, with a purpose to create dialogue and cooperation with non-EU countries. By analysing official EU policy documents, this thesis aims to map out how migration is discursively constructed and rhetorically described as an issue of security through a critical discourse analysis. The result shows several discourses together forming an overall rhetoric of migration as an issue of security. Firstly, there is a discursive construction of a European community with external borders, consisting of EU and the member states. Furthermore, the study shows a discursive securitization of irregular migration. Irregular migration is posed as an external threat to the EU community, with the potential to cause a future crisis for the European member states. It is also connected to cross-border criminal activity. The ideas of migration motivates political and institutional measures, such as increased border control and surveillance. This is discussed as an exercise of power, showing societal power relations of inequality. The ultimate aim of making these relations of power visible is contributing to societal change.