EU common policy on illegal immigration and asylum: adding to the copenhagen school

Official URL: http://192.168.1.20/record=b1427144 (Table of Contents)

This study is on the common policy of the European Union on illegal immigration and asylum. It particularly explores the adaptability of the Copenhagen School's securitization theory in the context of European immigration policy. The study examines a central puzzle: although the representation of illegal immigrants and asylum seekers as an existential threat has been securitized at the discursive level, this has not contributed to extraordinary measures in the course of the European integration process, contrary to what is claimed by the securitization theory. It, then, suggests that this puzzle would be tackled by using a comprehensive securitization framework applied at both discursive and non-discursive levels. The main findings of this study are as follows: first, EU common policy on illegal immigration and asylum has been securitized at the discursive level concomitant with the logic of securitization theory by the Copenhagen School. Second, non-discursive practices that have been applied to deal with the discursively securitized issue contradict the logic of securitization theory with respect to the absence of extraordinary measures, but rather defacto institutionalization/routinization of them. Thus, the study argues that the paradox illustrating the auxiliary nature of securitization theory in the course of European immigration policy indicates the inadequacy of the conceptualization of securitization process by the Copenhagen School. It further asserts that the narrow and standard logic of securitization process cannot capture the complexity at the practice level.