Visa Regimes as Power

Abstract

This article examines the significance of labor mobility for capitalism and analyzes the visa regimes of the European Union (EU) and Turkey. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, labor mobility originating from Eastern Europe has been redirected to the West, taking the form of circular migrations and replacing the previous rotation system. While the new forms of circular mobility created insecure employment conditions for many people, it also required a visa regime to classify people when they arrive at the borders. Both nation-states and supranational organizations such as the EU continue to build regulatory capacities. The second half of the article examines the Schengen agreement and the ways in which French German sensitivities were “communitized.” While other East European countries chose to be a part of the Schengen agreement’s restrictive visa policies, this option was not possible for Turkey, which established a fully liberal regime.