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151. The refugee, the sovereign and the sea : EU interdiction policies in the Mediterranean

Author:
Thomas Gammeltoft-Hansen
Publication Date:
03-2008
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
This paper starts from the encounter between a European navy vessel and a dinghy carrying boat refugees and other desperate migrants across the Mediterranean or West African Sea towards Europe. It explores the growing trend in the EU of enacting migration control at the high seas or international waters – so-called interdiction. It is argued that these forms of extraterritorial migration control aim at reconquering the efficiency of the sovereign function to control migration, by trying to either deconstruct or shift correlate obligations vis-à-vis refugees and other persecuted persons to third States. In both instances, European States are entering into a sovereignty game, in which creative strategies are developed in order to reassert sovereign power unconstrained by national and international obligations.
Topic:
Human Welfare, International Law, Migration, and Sovereignty
Political Geography:
Europe and West Africa

152. It takes two to Tango. Danish concepts of dialogue as counterterrorism

Author:
Ulrik Pram Gad
Publication Date:
10-2008
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Norwegian Institute of International Affairs
Abstract:
Since 9/11, the terrorist is often awarded the position of the radical Other of Danish identity; the personified existential threat to Denmark (not primarily as a state but as a society). The strategy of the Danish government to counter terrorism describes itself as covering a 'broad spectrum' of efforts. It includes an 'active foreign policy' in relation to the Muslim world and an 'active integration policy' in relation to Muslim migrants. Both inside and outside the nation state efforts range from 'hard power' security strategies of elimination and control involving military, police, and intelligence operations to 'soft power' strategies of information, partnerships, and dialogue. The paper analyses Danish counterterrorism policies to identify the concepts of dialogue implied and the positions awarded to less-than-radical Muslim Others. The paper concludes that Muslims might in counterterrorism dialogue find a position for talking back – even if it is still a position circumscribed by control and securitization.
Topic:
Ethnic Conflict, Islam, Migration, Terrorism, and Immigration
Political Geography:
Europe

153. Mobility of Labor and Services across the Baltic Sea after EU Enlargement: Trends and Consequences

Author:
Jon Erik Dølvik
Publication Date:
01-2008
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University
Abstract:
The enlargement of the EU/EEA area on 1 May 2004 to comprise 28 countries – including eight Central and Eastern European countries, in 2007 followed by Bulgaria and Romania – was a milestone. The subsequent opening of the markets for labor and services between countries with gaps in wages and living conditions comparable to those along the U.S./Mexican border has no modern precedent, prompting new patterns of competition, migration and adjustment in national labor market regimes. This paper reviews developments in labor migration after enlargement and the implications for the labor markets in the Baltic States and Poland, which have accounted for a predominant share of the intra-EU/EEA migration flows since 2004. Besides the UK and Ireland, where almost one million EU8 citizens had registered in 2007, the booming Nordic economies have become important destinations, having granted more than 250,000 permits and seen sizeable additional flows of service providers and self-employed from the Baltic states and Poland. In the sending countries, rising demand for labor has, alongside strong outmigration – especially among young and well-educated groups – engendered falling unemployment, soaring wage growth, and made shortages of skills and labor an obstacle to further economic recovery. Yet, while better paid temporary work abroad may weaken the incentives for employment, mobility and training in the home country, aging will lead to shrinking working-age populations in the coming years. Unless the Baltic states and Poland can entice a larger share of the population to work in their home countries – and/or can attract substantial labor migration from third countries – the declining work force may easily entail economic stagnation and reinforce the outflow of human resources. These countries are thereby facing a critical juncture in their economic and social development. In the recipient Nordic countries, the growing labor and service mobility, low cost production, and competition for labor in Europe, as well as emerging lines of division in the labor markets, have, on the other hand, raised new questions as to how the principles of free movement and the egalitarian Nordic models can be made reconcilable in the open European markets.
Topic:
Demographics, Markets, and Migration
Political Geography:
Europe

154. The Nordic Path of Spain's Mediterranean Welfare

Author:
Luis Moreno
Publication Date:
01-2008
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University
Abstract:
Despite the fact that the Nordic welfare model has become less exceptional in recent times, it continues to offer numerous examples for “best practices” in social policy provision, together with a high degree of welfare political legitimacy. This paper explores Nordic “benchmarking” as reference to the case of welfare development in Spain. In the general process of convergence of the European welfare states towards the middle, the Spanish case stands out as the one Mediterranean EU country which has gone further in incorporating inputs and traits of the social-democratic Nordic world of welfare capitalism. While Spain's welfare state has become more liberal in macroeconomic policies, and social policymaking has followed a pattern of universalization of welfare entitlements and provision, there has been a detachment from the Bismarckian principle of income maintenance. This paper deals with Spain's evolution in two main areas, which have distinctively characterized Nordic welfare in contemporary times: fiscal resources, and female employment. The analytical purpose of the first section is to ponder the claim as to whether or not Spanish welfare has intensified a socioeconomic path in the direction of the Nordic model. Subsequently, Spain's societal changes and welfare reforms are reviewed with relation to the two areas identified as having the greatest impact in the future evolution of Spain's welfare: conciliation of work and family life, and the territorial politics of welfare provision. Concluding remarks speculate on the hypothesis that countries with fragmented political institutions and a decentralized state organization, such as Spain, may move faster and be more responsive in the development of new welfare Polices. Likewise, the emergence of gender and family issues into the political arena is also regarded as generating pressure for major changes in Spain's Mediterranean welfare, and possibly intensifying its Nordic path or component.
Topic:
Security, Economics, Markets, Migration, and Poverty
Political Geography:
Europe and Spain

155. What Future for the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice? Recommendations on EU Migration and Borders Policies in a Globalising World

Author:
Didier Bigo, Sergio Carrera, and Elspeth Guild
Publication Date:
03-2008
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Centre for European Policy Studies
Abstract:
The European Interest: Succeeding in the Age of Globalisation, COM(2007) 581 final, Brussels 3.10.2007, which states: “The EU is already working on many of the policy elements needed to equip it to take on the challenge of globalization with confidence…in the coming months, the Commission will be putting new ideas on the table to address these key challenges…Review of internal policies is already under way, aiming to reshape Europe to face gloablisation and give it the right platform to look beyond its borders.” Further the Communication identifies “Migration in a Globalized World” as one of the key political objectives and states: “In a Europe with no internal borders, the changing demands of an ageing society and a labour market in constant evolution have challenged established assumptions about immigration… a new global approach is needed so that migration strikes the right balance between the risk of labour market shortages, economic impacts, negative social consequences, integration policies and external policy objectives”. Information about the current financial Framework Programme on Solidarity and the Management of Migration Flows for the period 2007- 2013 and about the four Funds comprising it (European Refugee Fund, External Borders Fund, the European Return Fund and the European Integration Fund) can be found at See the original European Commission's proposal in the Communication on a framework programme on Solidarity and the Management of Migration Flows for the period.
Topic:
Human Rights, Migration, Immigration, and Law
Political Geography:
Europe and Brussels

156. Four Best Practices in Cooperation between Civil Society and Authorities with a View to the Prevention of the Violent Radicalization in Spain

Author:
José Antonio Peña-Ramos
Publication Date:
07-2008
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Athena Intelligence Journal
Institution:
Athena Intelligence
Abstract:
Madrid and London terrorist attacks in 2004 and 2005, European counterparts to those carried out in New York and Washington during 2001, have steadily increased EU institutions' concern about the phenomenon of violent radicalization, specially that of Islamist nature, as a possible previous step leading to Jihadist terrorism in a context of a continuous and even growing flow of immigration, namely from Muslim origins. The European Council deems paramount to achieve a deeper cooperation between civil society and authorities towards the prevention of these radicalization phenomena.
Topic:
Civil Society, Islam, Migration, and Terrorism
Political Geography:
Europe, Gaza, Romania, and Spain

157. Tocqueville, Comparative History and Immigration in Two Democracies

Author:
Nancy L. Green
Publication Date:
06-2008
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
French Politics, Culture Society
Institution:
Conference Group on French Politics Society
Abstract:
Tocqueville says nothing about immigrants in America. Neither “immigré(s),” “immigration” or the word “immigrant(s)” appear in De la démocratie en Amérique. This is hardly surprising, for two reasons: the word and the reality, that is, the French language and the American context. In Tocqueville's native tongue, the term is absent in the 1835 (6th) edition of the Dictionnaire de l'Académie française. The term émigration was for years the French word of choice to describe those who had changed countries. (Émigrés of course retained its more restrictive meaning, referring to those who fled the Revolution.)
Topic:
Civil Society and Migration
Political Geography:
United States, Europe, and France

158. African Migration to Europe: Obscured Responsibilities and Common Misconceptions

Author:
Dirk Kohnert
Publication Date:
05-2007
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
German Institute of Global and Area Studies
Abstract:
The number of migrants from conflict regions in Africa has been increasing dramatically. The European Union shares dual responsibility for the continuing migration pressure: First, because it fostered over decades corrupt and autocratic regimes with dire disregard to principles of 'good governance'. The aftermath of these regimes is still felt today and constitutes one of the underlying factors for politically motivated migration. Second, the EU contributed to Africa's economic misery due to its selfish external trade policy. Nevertheless, the prevailing perspective of the EU and of its member countries concerning African immigration remains to be focused on security, the foreclosure of its external borders and prevention. Current EU programs and concepts to fight African migration are questionable. Even development‐oriented approaches are bound to fail, if not backed by sustainable immigration policies.
Topic:
Security and Migration
Political Geography:
Africa and Europe

159. The EU Border Management Strategy: FRONTEX and the Challenges of Irregular Immigration in the Canary Islands

Author:
Sergio Carrera
Publication Date:
03-2007
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre for European Policy Studies
Abstract:
The EU is developing a border management strategy aiming at an "integrated and global response" to the challenges posed by the phenomenon of irregular immigration through the common external borders. "The Southern maritime borders" constitute one of the main targets addressed by this strategy. On November 2006, the European Commission published a communication calling for the reinforced management of the EU's Southern maritime borders and for the maximisation of the capacities of the European Agency for the Management of Operational Cooperation at the External Borders of the Member States of the European Union – FRONTEX. This paper provides some reflections about these current policy approaches by looking at the nature, scope and practical implications of the implementation of the Integrated Border Management strategy and its relationship with a common EU immigration policy. After assessing the latest policy developments in these areas, we raise a number of questions about some of the functions and capacities carried out by FRONTEX, and present a series of vulnerabilities characterising the joint operations coordinated by this Community body taking the example of the operations HERA I, II and III in the Canary Islands (Spain).
Topic:
International Relations, Development, and Migration
Political Geography:
Europe and Spain

160. Integration: An Ever-Closer Challenge

Author:
Stefano Bertozzi
Publication Date:
02-2007
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre for European Policy Studies
Abstract:
This article argues for closer integration to be a key part of the EU's migration policy. It accepts that migration is necessary for a prosperous Europe and looks at the role of the EU and how best to integrate immigrants. Countries' experiences and the need for better aligned policies among member states are examined. The European Commission's role in sharing experiences and best practices is considered, as well as the need for the many stakeholders involved to work together. Integration is a complex and delicate process, and ultimately the EU must be bolder in its promotion of integration if it is to benefit from migration.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Development, and Migration
Political Geography:
Europe