Externalising Migration Governance Through Civil Society

This book investigates how the externalisation of EU migration policies is implemented in Tunisia after the fall of the Ben Ali regime in 2011 through the involvement of civil society organisations. The ‘democratic transition’ initiated by the Tunisian Revolution led to the emergence of a ‘vibrant civil society’ as a new actor in the implementation of migration policies. In a country where migration issues are highly politicised and have strongly entered the public space, civil society is now included in the EU-Tunisia negotiation process and is assigned the role of an intermediary for the implementation of controversial European policies related to sedentarisation of the Tunisian population and to the construction of Tunisia as a ‘country of destination’. The volume concludes by suggesting an alternative way of thinking about migrant struggles challenging the European border regime as ‘uncivil society’ struggles.

Sabine Dini and Caterina Giusa lift the veil, through the example of Tunisia, on the underside of the externalisation of the migration policies of the EU and its Member States applied to third-world countries in the southern neighbourhood. Using the Foucauldian analytical framework of governmentality, in the context of the democratic transition in this ‘flagship’ country of the Arab uprisings after 2011, the authors demonstrate how, despite speeches and declarations of “solidarity” and of "support" to the Tunisian spring, the EU has not changed anything in the fundamental logic of its policy, and has even managed to instrumentalise the association and involvement of Tunisian civil society organisations (CSO's) in the new framework of migration governance, which is supposed to replace the old authoritarian framework delegitimised by the revolt.

Alongside the Tunisian state, the illusion that these CSO's have become a key and essential player in the new legitimised frameworkfor migration governance, makes them believe that they are associated with the making of these policies. The reality is quite different: the Mobility Partnership (MP) agreements are the illustration of the continuity of the fundamental logic that leads the EU in its migration policy vis-à-vis third countries. Accentuated externalisation is here the most effective tool. Rather than talking about Mobility, dare we speak of assignment?

This book provides an original analysis of two processes rarely studied in conjuncture: the externalization of EU borders, and Tunisian social movements post-2011 revolution. It sheds much needed light on ever-changing tactics of border securitization, as well as the cooptation of actors from the global south in this process. 

- Ilaria Giglioli, Assistant Professor of Geography and International Studies, New Collegeof Florida, USA

In this timely and original book, Sabine Dini and Caterina Giusa explore post-2011 Tunisia as the troubled site of political upheaval and social transformation where an emergent civil society is drawn into European attempts to govern migration at a distance. By exploring the incorporation of the ‘responsible’ Tunisian civil society in the combat of ‘irregular’ migration across the Mediterranean, the authors shed light on the insidious effects of the European border within Tunisia and north Africa. Yet, as this important book aptly observes, Europe’s externalised border is not simply imposed but the object of debate and contestation, continuously defied and reconfigured by the movements of ‘harragas’ - those who burn borders. 

—    - Maurice Stierl, Leverhulme Early Career Fellow, University of Warwick, UK

Through an engaging in-depth account of the political and social transformations that are ongoing in Tunisia, Sabine Dini and Caterina Giusa equip us with an innovative analytical lens for reading the EU's politics of externalisation in light of the Arab Uprisings. The book radically challenges any Euro-centric reading of the Tunisian revolution on democratic transition and points to the incorporation of the Tunisian civil society in processes of migration governmentality and mobility regulation.

—   -  Martina Tazzioli, Lecturer in Politics and Technology, Goldsmiths, University of London, UK