The management of migrants and refugees is one of the key challenges facing the EU today. Since the ‘refugee crisis’ of 2015-16, the EU has been redesigning its policy frameworks to better regulate migrants before they reach Europe itself. This ‘externalization’ policy has involved extensive outsourcing of migration management powers and resources to non-European actors: including international organizations, foreign governments, sub-state actors, private companies and NGOs.

However, we still know very little about whether and how these external actors are implementing EU migration management policies, or of whether and how actors are held accountable for their actions. As a result, we lack the ability to critically assess the impacts of externalization policy, on migration patterns and processes, and on the actors and institutions that are being tasked with migration management roles.

This project will fill this gap through sustained and inter-disciplinary research on the EU externalization policy in Africa. Using a mixed-method approach, the research team will study how programs in the European Trust Fund for Africa has been implemented and determine who has the power and responsibility to shape its outcomes in Africa.

AISSR members contributing to this research: