Framing migration in the southern Mediterranean: how do civil society actors evaluate EU migration policies? The case of Tunisia

Abstract

After repeated failed attempts to reform its dysfunctional internal architecture, the external dimension has become the real cornerstone of the EU's migration strategy, with the Mediterranean as its main geographical priority. In spite of routine rhetorical references to its cooperative and partnership-based nature, the EU external migration policy-making remains essentially unilateral and top-down. Civil societies of sending and transit countries, in particular, tend to be excluded; however, better understanding the policy frames and priorities of "partner" countries' stakeholders vis-à-vis EU migration policies represents a crucial task. Based on extensive fieldwork carried out in the context of the MEDRESET project, this article contributes to fill this gap by focusing on the case of Tunisia. In a context of much lower salience and politicisation compared to the European context, Tunisian civil society actors are critical about the EU's security-based framing of migration and mobility. However, rather than displaying a radically antagonistic stance, the most influential Tunisian civil society stakeholders show an overall collaborative attitude towards the EU. This may represent a strategic resource for the EU to promote a more participatory governance of migration, which may lead to more balanced, effective and mutually beneficial migration policies in the Mediterranean region.

Editorial: “Mediterranean thinking” for mapping a Mediterranean migration research agenda

“…This includes addressing questions on how migration studies are being developed by non-European and western scholars, and also to incorporate documentary analysis and data sources produced by non-European institutions and non-European civil society. This is in part the originality of the contribution done by Roman and Pastore (2020) in this Special Issue. They suggest taking civil societies, in sending and transit countries, as a remedy to avoid unilaterality and top-down policy perspectives.…”

Tunisia’s migration politics throughout the 2011 revolution: revisiting the democratisation–migrant rights nexus

“…Research on Tunisia in particular has dissected the role of civil society actors, showcasing how they can both resist and reinforce European externalisation goals through their actions on the ground (Bartels 2015;Cuttitta 2020;Dini and Giusa 2020;Pastore and Roman 2020;Roman 2019). Scholars have also retraced migration policy developments within the context of democratisation, highlighting changes in discourse as well as continuities in policies and practices (Cassarini 2020;Cassarino 2018b;Geisser 2019).…”

“…In a sense, our work gives them more strike force. This dynamic has been particularly evident in the coalition between Tunisian policymakers and civil society against European attempts to sign a new readmission agreement (Cassarino 2014;Pastore and Roman 2020). ultimately, the democratic character of post-2011 Tunisia allows the government to better face European pressures by highlighting the need to consider civil society actors and popular opinion.…”

Generating instability? The impact of the EU's hybrid migration governance in Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan

“…The inability of the EU to reconcile internal differences over burden‐sharing (Pastore & Roman, 2020) was also a factor in driving the externalisation of EU migration governance through deals with neighbouring states. While such deals between the EU and third countries were far from new (for a history of these legal and semi‐formal frameworks see Ryan, 2019), they became more important after 2015.…”

“…A further line of scholarly enquiry has concerned the role of civil society actors in shaping and contesting the European migration governance space. This has highlighted how ‘civil society actors perceive migration‐related issues through a more migrant‐centred and human rights‐oriented frame’, and reject the securitising assumptions which prevail in the EU (Pastore & Roman, 2020, p. 16). Through their contestation of the migrants‐as‐threat framing civil society constructs an alternative approach that assumes immigrants have fundamental rights and seeks greater recognition of this in institutions and their policies (Piper, 2015, see also Grugel & Piper, 2007).…”