Governing refugee flows in European contexts and the strategic role of education: Perspectives from the frontiers

Abstract

This article discusses governance strategies activated in Europe aiming to monitor migration and refugee flows. A central point to be made is that migrant policy is an essential component of the wider social policy, thus representing the type of welfare provision prevalent in each particular state. Moreover, it will be argued that, apart from the wider EU immigration and asylum policies, such as the successive Dublin regulations, which constitute major parameters governing mobility, welfare state traditions and systems act as steering mechanisms to mobility, directing and redirecting flows, as they foster motives for improved life conditions among migrants. Furthermore, refugee education policies will be examined in selected European countries, with a particular focus in frontier Greece. The article asserts that education, being part of the welfare state policies, plays a pivotal role in governing migration flows in twofold ways: first, facilitating and securing mobility strategies on the part of asylum seekers; second, attracting and recruiting labor force on the part of the aging European countries.