Forced Displacement and EU External Action: Exogenous Shocks, Policy Frames and Institutional Dynamics

Abstract

The unfolding of Europe’s ‘refugee crisis’ from 2015 onward has put the external dimension of asylum policy at the top of the European Union’s (EU) agenda. This article analyses policy change in this expanding area of EU external action, focusing on the role played by exogenous factors and EU institutional dynamics. It argues that, in line with global debates and initiatives to expand the scope of durable solutions for refugees, EU institutions have endeavoured to place development at the centre of the EU approach to forced displacement. As shown by the cases of cooperation with Turkey and African countries, however, concerns over increasing migrant and refugee movements in many Member States have led to the simultaneous deployment of a policy agenda centred on containment, in which development aid is framed as a tool to pursue migration control objectives. This article concludes that the uneasy relation that exists between these two policy agendas calls into question the overall coherence of EU external action in the field of asylum and refugee protection.