Crossing borders & moving boundaries: for better or worse A process tracing analysis of the European externalisation of migration management to Libya

Abstract

On consecutive days in February 2017 the Italy-Libya Memorandum of Understanding and the Malta Declaration were concluded. Together, these soft law agreements externalise European migration management to Libya, inter alia, through strengthening border control and enhancing the capacity of Libyan authorities, including the Libyan Coast Guard. This externalisation is contested, as it potentially encompasses European support for, and enablement of, human rights violations in Libya, and breaches the principle of non-refoulement. To understand how and why the EU engages in such unconscionable policies, a process tracing analysis is conducted. This thesis argues the externalisation of European migration management to Libya arose and subsisted through the conclusion of two sequenced, incomplete and ambiguous agreements, and is likely a consequence of the securitisation of migration, diverging interests, and organised hypocrisy in the European Union.