EU Migration-Security Continuum. Investigating Security Frames Before the “Migration Crisis”

Abstract

The chapter discusses historical development of the securitisation of migration at the EU level, outlining its different modes and venues. It discusses how the Schengen zone has become the seminal project for development of the EU border control regime reflected predominantly in the managerial approach to security practices and discourses towards migrants in the EU. It further the covers development of EU asylum policies, elaborating upon intertwining policy narratives of humanitarianism, illegality and bogus claims of asylum seekers in the EU. Lastly, the chapter discusses EU policies on detention and deportation, examining them as securitising practices of containment and control. In this way, the chapter unravels the complexity of the so-called migration-security continuum in the EU, discussing its historical and institutional development, indicating how the logics of human security, “exceptionality” and most notably risk management have become points of reference for framing of the “migration crisis”.