The Securitisation of the Mediterranean Frontier Through Search and Rescue At
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Securitisation at the Mediterranean Frontier through Search and Rescue at Sea Saray (S.P.H.) Indenkleef – s4792912 MSc Thesis Political Science – Conflict, Power and Politics Supervised by Haley (H.J.) Swedlund 11 August 2019, Nijmegen ABSTRACT Keywords: search and rescue, border control, securitisation, European Union, discourse analysis. The gravity of the Mediterranean migration crisis increased the urgency for an immediate call to action because of the many lives lost at sea. Search and Rescue operations were deployed by the European Union to prevent more migrant deaths. However, the operational conduct of the Search and Rescue operations revealed the security mandates with border control objectives and military anti-smuggler assets. This thesis examines how securitisation has affected the European Union’s Search and Rescue activities during the Mediterranean migration crisis. It focusses on the Italian Navy Operation Mare Nostrum, Frontex Joint Operation Triton, and EUNAVFOR Med Operation Sophia. Through discourse analysis and process-tracing, it investigates the development of the European Union’s Search and Rescue operations and the narratives used to legitimise the securitisation of these operations. The Paris School of Securitisation helps to explain the dynamic interplay between the agents, the acts and the context at hand. The analysis finds multiple securitisation chains active during the crisis period 2014-2019 as well as three significant narratives aiding the legitimisation of the European Union’s securitising moves; restructuring the external borders, creating a threat in numbers, and fighting the smuggler networks. The mismatch between the outward communication and the mandates and assets of the Search and Rescue operations presents itself as a decoupling of talk and action, under which the humanitarian concerns are used as a disguise for the enhancement of border management and migration containment through anti-smugglers instruments. Word count: 23.544 1 2 “The scale of a humanitarian crisis is often expressed in statistics, but it is better measured in the lives and fates of real people.” - Filippo Grandi, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on World Refugees Day 20191. 1 https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/06/refugee-crisis-record-high-filippo-grandi/ The photo on the cover page of this MSc Thesis is taken from http://www.spectator.co.uk. Author of the drawing is not mentioned. 3 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS CFSP The Common Foreign and Security Policy Council The Council of the European Union CS Copenhagen School of Securitisation CSDP The Common Security and Defence Policy EC The European Commission EEAS The European External Action Service EP European Parliament EU European Union EUNAVFOR Med European Union Naval Force Mediterranean Frontex European Coastguard and Border Agency HR/VP High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy/Vice-President of the European Commission ICC International Coordination Centre IOM International Office for Migration Mare Nostrum Italian Navy Operation Mare Nostrum MRCC Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre MS(s) Member State(s) NGO(s) Non-Governmental Organisation(s) PS Paris School of Securitisation SAR Search and Rescue Sophia EUNAVFOR Med Operation Sophia Triton Frontex Joint Operation Triton UN United Nations UNHCR United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees UNSCR United Nations Security Council Regulation 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract ................................................................................................................................................... 1 List of Abbreviations and Acronyms ........................................................................................................ 4 Table of Contents .................................................................................................................................... 5 1 Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 7 1.1 The Research Puzzle ................................................................................................................ 8 1.2 Relevance .............................................................................................................................. 11 1.3 Structure ................................................................................................................................ 12 2 The Theory of Securitisation: Explaining Security Issues .............................................................. 14 2.1 Copenhagen School of Securitisation .................................................................................... 14 2.1.1 Security for whom, from what, by whom ..................................................................... 15 2.1.2 Criticism on the Copenhagen School ............................................................................. 18 2.2 Paris School of Securitisation ................................................................................................ 19 2.2.1 Extended Assumptions .................................................................................................. 19 2.2.2 Definition of Securitisation ............................................................................................ 23 3 Theoretical Framework and Methods: Applying Securitisation Theory ........................................ 25 3.1 Case Study Design ................................................................................................................. 25 3.2 The EU as a Securitizing Actor ............................................................................................... 26 3.3 Levels of Analysis ................................................................................................................... 27 3.4 Methodological Techniques .................................................................................................. 31 3.4.1 Process-Tracing .............................................................................................................. 31 3.4.2 Discourse Analysis ......................................................................................................... 33 3.5 Data Collection ...................................................................................................................... 34 3.6 Data Analysis ......................................................................................................................... 35 4 Historical Context: Illustrating The Migratory Routes ................................................................... 37 4.1 The Eastern Mediterranean Route ........................................................................................ 37 4.2 The Central Mediterranean Route ........................................................................................ 39 4.3 The Western Mediterranean Route ...................................................................................... 41 5 The European Union’s Search and Rescue Activities .................................................................... 42 5.1 Italian Navy Operation Mare Nostrum .................................................................................. 43 5.2 Frontex Joint Operation Triton .............................................................................................. 44 5.3 EUNAVFOR Med Operation Sophia ....................................................................................... 47 5.4 Non-Governmental Operations ............................................................................................. 49 6 The Narratives on Security Practices ............................................................................................. 51 6.1 Restructuring the External Borders ....................................................................................... 52 5 6.2 Creating a Threat in Numbers ............................................................................................... 54 6.3 Fighting Smugglers with Extraordinary Means...................................................................... 58 7 Findings and Conclusion ................................................................................................................ 62 7.1 Answering the Research Question ........................................................................................ 62 7.1.1 The ‘What’ ..................................................................................................................... 63 7.1.2 The ‘Who’ ...................................................................................................................... 64 7.1.3 The ‘How’ ....................................................................................................................... 65 7.2 Limitations and Recommendations ....................................................................................... 67 7.3 Final Reflections .................................................................................................................... 68 8 References ..................................................................................................................................... 70 Appendix A: Primary Data Collection .................................................................................................... 78 Appendix B: List of Figures ...................................................................................................................