Abstract
ABSTRACT This article diagnoses and critiques a type of governmentality associated with waiting during protracted asylum appeal procedures by drawing upon data from a multi-methodological study of asylum adjudication in Europe. Focusing on Austria, Germany and Italy, we explore the use of integration-related considerations in asylum appeal processes by looking at the ways in which these considerations permeate judges’ decision-making, particularly, but not exclusively, on the granting of national, non-EU harmonised protection statuses. Building on insights from the literature on conditional integration we question the implicit socio-political biases and moral assumptions that underpin this permeation. We show that the use of integration-related considerations in asylum appeals transforms migrant waiting into a period of probation during which rejected asylum seekers’ conducts are governed and tested in relation to the use of time. More than simply waiting patiently, rejected asylum seekers are expected to wait productively, whereby productivity is assessed through the neoliberal imperatives of entrepreneurship, autonomy and self-improvement. We thus contribute to scholarship on migrant waiting by showing how time is capitalised by state authorities even when – and actually because – it offers opportunities for migrants.
Highlights
In this article we identify and critique a type of governmentality associated with waiting during the refugee status determination process according to which rejected asylum seekers’ conducts are governed and tested in relation to their use of time
We explore the use of integration-related considerations in asylum appeal processes by looking at the ways in which these considerations permeate judges’ decision-making, but not exclusively, on the granting of national, non-European Union (EU) harmonised protection statuses, such as humanitarian protection
Our analysis focuses on Austria, Germany and Italy because they offer different, complementary insights into the phenomenon we describe, our concern is that the governmentality we diagnose is becoming more widespread in the EU generally
Summary
In this article we identify and critique a type of governmentality associated with waiting during the refugee status determination process according to which rejected asylum seekers’ conducts are governed and tested in relation to their use of time. Waiting is portrayed simultaneously as an imposition that slows down movements, usurps time and produces uncertainty and as a period for resistance which can sometimes be meaningful, active and full of potential. While these two dimensions might appear contradictory, our argument shows them to be commensurate within a governmentality framework. We explore the use of integration-related considerations in asylum appeal processes by looking at the ways in which these considerations permeate judges’ decision-making, but not exclusively, on the granting of national, non-EU harmonised protection statuses, such as humanitarian protection. Section Six brings these strands together to outline the characteristics of the governmentality of waiting we have discerned
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