The Securitization of Migration in Europe in the Post-September 11 Era : A Comparative Analysis of Germany and Spain

Abstract

While the burgeoning research on securitization of migration has provided outstanding works and opened up new avenues in migration studies, there is still a gap in the academic literature. The existing works suffer from a lack of clear-cut methodological framework and this hinders the ‘empirical’ application of the securitization theory. Moreover, their exclusive focus on the European Union (EU) prevents us from understanding how the securitization of migration has developed and been structured in different (national) contexts.

For these reasons, this dissertation seeks to offer a systematic and empirical examination of the securitization process in Germany and Spain from a comparative perspective. It also undertakes an EU level analysis to unpack the interplay between the member states and the EU in this process. More specifically, rather than offering ‘objectivist’ claims as to whether (a certain group of) migrants threaten ‘European security’, the dissertation questions how/whether migration has come to be framed and administered as a security issue; whether recent counter terrorism debates have (re)structured the politics of migration; and whether the agendas of these different phenomena have (been) converged in the post-September period at the national and EU levels. In answering these questions and explaining the security framing of migration, it applies a sociological approach to securitization that builds on the role of practices (policies, policy tools, instruments, etc.) administering migration. In other words, the analysis sheds light on how these practices transform migration into a security question. Besides, even though the major focus of the research is the post-September 11 era, a historicized and contextualized analysis, which takes into account the pre-September 11 period, is also carried out. By doing this, the aim is to explore the impact of the September 11 and subsequent attacks in London and Madrid over migration politics in a more comprehensive way and to assess the changes and continuities in the process of the securitization. In accordance with these objectives and methodological perspectives, the expected results of this research are, therefore, significant to challenge and problematize the simplistic and straightforward definition and understanding of the securitization processes pertaining to academic and political discourses.