Exploring the European Union’s rationalities of governing: the case of cross-border mobility in the eastern partnership

Abstract

ABSTRACTThis article examines the case of cross-border mobility between the European Union (EU) and the states of the Eastern Partnership (EaP). The issue of managing mobility exposes a wider series of continuities and disconnects in the EU’s attempts at extending its rationalities of governing into the neighbourhood. Using the case studies of Visa Liberalisation Actions Plans and the Border Assistance Mission to Moldova and Ukraine (EUBAM), this article argues that while the EU’s rationalities of governing remain largely disciplinary, the study of practices reveals emergent rationalities of ‘governing at a distance’, which increasingly draw on the interplay of both the EU interests and partners’ needs.