The EU-ACP migration and development relationship

Abstract

In the 1990s, cooperation between north and south on the governance of global migration seemed highly unlikely. Nation states in the north believed that their territorial sovereignty was under threat from irregular migration from the south, and states in the south argued that their development prospects were being undermined by a crippling 'brain drain' to the north. Since 2000, international migration has moved to the top of the global governance and development agenda, and a whole range of bilateral and multilateral partnerships have taken shape. One of the less remarked-upon partnerships is the migration relationship between the European Union (EU) and the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States (ACP). This paper charts the evolution of this relationship over the last decade, arguing that it was enabled by five major features of migration and development discourse on which member states of the EU and the ACP could agree. The reasons for the focus on South-South, rather than South-North, migration in programming on migration and development are also explored.

Wealth Heterogeneity and the Income Elasticity of Migration

“…One fundamental point of contention in rich countries is how easing immigration barriers will affect migration flows from poor countries. This debate arose in the context of European Union enlargement (Constant, 2011), post-WWII immigration policy reform in the United States (Massey and Pren, 2012), and current foreign policy efforts to manage migration from Africa and the Middle East to Europe (Crush, 2015). Understanding how migration flows respond to short-run income shocks is an important input to this debate.…”

Claiming parity between unequal partners: how African counterparts are framed in the externalisation of EU migration governance

“…Due to its obvious empirical relevance, migration relations between Africa and Europe have attracted an immense body of literature. Many different approaches have looked at the phenomenon through various prisms, from focusing on experiences of African migrants into Europe (Beauchemin, 2018;Schapendonk, 2012) to broader policy and social overviews (Andersson, 2014;Crush, 2015;Gebrewold, 2016). Whereas some authors focus on the idea of partnership when assessing EU-Africa relations on migration (Mangala, 2013), a considerable part of the literature highlights aspects of a post-colonial, imperialist nature.…”

“…Africa- EU Partnership, 2007). Long before the so-called refugee crisis of 2015, the EU has increasingly pushed migration control as a core demand in its various negotiations with African states as well as regional organizations (Crush, 2015). The idea of equality in relations between the EU and African states and, bodies goes beyond a mere rhetorical exercise articulated in speeches to include the set-up of key institutional fora and their membership.…”

Development Aid in Translation

“…The issue of how to define development is not, however, simply a matter of conceptual difficulty but, in fact, may predetermine both the framework regarding what problems and issues take priority as well as what type of knowledge is needed to best address them, including the locality of knowledge production. Thus, the very definition of development prequalifies the types of action to be taken and who is authorized to take that action (Crush, 1995).…”