Biopolitical Borders and the State of Exception in the European Migration 'Crisis'

Davitti, Daria

Abstract

© 2018 The Author(s). This article examines the current European refugee 'crisis' by challenging, from a theoretical perspective, the way in which the European Union (EU) has used the increased number of deaths in the Mediterranean as an opportunity to frame recent migration flows as an emergency that, by definition, can only be addressed through the adoption of exceptional measures. The analysis engages with the work of Giorgio Agamben on biopolitics and state of exception to illustrate, first, the need to rethink the way in which borders are defined and used (for example, externalized) within the context of the European refugee 'crisis'. Second, Agamben's work is useful to understand what moves the externalization and privatization of migration, and to ascertain how international law has enabled the emergence of this 'crisis' framing, whilst, at the same time, partly losing its ability to challenge EU policies. The article argues that the posture of humanitarianism adopted by the EU masks the fact that the appalling situation in which refugees are abandoned is not accidental but, rather, inherent to the enhanced measures adopted by the EU and its member states as part of the European Agenda on Migration.

Citation

Davitti, D. (2018). Biopolitical Borders and the State of Exception in the European Migration 'Crisis'. European Journal of International Law, 29(4), 1173-1196. https://doi.org/10.1093/ejil/chy065

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Dec 31, 2018
• Online Publication Date: Feb 14, 2019
• Publication Date: 2018-11
• Deposit Date: Apr 30, 2019
• Publicly Available Date: Dec 1, 2019
• Journal: European Journal of International Law
• Print ISSN: 0938-5428
• Electronic ISSN: 1464-3596
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 29
• Issue: 4
• Pages: 1173-1196
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/ejil/chy065
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1859678
• Publisher URL: https://academic.oup.com/ejil/article/29/4/1173/5320183
• Additional Information: This is a pre-copyedited, author-produced PDF of an article accepted for publication in European Journal of International Law following peer review. The version of record Daria Davitti, Biopolitical Borders and the State of Exception in the European Migration ‘Crisis’, European Journal of International Law, Volume 29, Issue 4, November 2018, Pages 1173–1196, is available online at: https://doi.org/10.1093/ejil/chy065