Policy Discourses on Irregular Migration in the EU - `Number Games' and `Political Games'

Author: Vollmer, Bastian A.

Source: European Journal of Migration and Law, Volume 13, Number 3, 2011 , pp. 317-339(23)

Publisher: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, an imprint of Brill

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Abstract:

Irregular migration in Europe appeared on policy agendas in the early 1970s and more intensively in the late 1980s and 1990s; since then, it has become a top priority issue in policy discourses. With reference to exemplifying country cases, this article elaborates on two discursive elements that have emerged across discourses in the EU: 1. threat and criminalization, 2. `number games'. The discourse of irregular migration has become increasingly coloured by deviousness, a criminalisation took place at discursive and legislative level alike, but at the same time the insecurity about `numbers', i.e. the scope of irregular migrants residing in the EU, geared policy discourses to a particular development. This article argues that an interplay between these two elements amounts to a necessity of ongoing demonstration of efficient governance. This takes the form of `political games' that are run by political actors demonstrating the capacity and efficient governance of controlling irregular migration and its underlying implications.

Keywords: public policy; policy discourses; irregular migration; threat and criminalization; number games; political games; efficient governance

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/157181611X587874

Affiliations: 1: Centre on Migration, Policy and Society, University of Oxford UK

Publication date: 2011-01-01