The death of migrants in the Mediterranean remains a significant problem for EU migration policy. Ruben Zaiotti argues that Europe’s approach to the issue can effectively be termed a type of ‘externalisation’, in which the responsibility for migration has been off loaded to origin and transit countries. He writes that the best explanation for why Europe has adopted this model may be a psychological one, related to the internal dynamics within EU states.
News outlets around the world are plastered with images of Southern European countries’ coastguard vessels intercepting rickety dinghies trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea. This practice is one of the most notable instances of what Aristide Zolberg calls ‘remote control’, or the array of policies and practices aimed at managing migratory flows before they reach a country’s territory.
The externalisation of migration management is not a new phenomenon, and not unique to Europe. The United States, after all, ‘invented’ the concept of interdiction in the high seas as a way to stem the flow of Haitians, Cubans and other undesired migrants heading North. Yet there is something new about recent developments, both in terms of breadth and scope. More problematically, these policies remain highly controversial, raising various ethical and legal issues for the governments introducing them.
This state of affairs raises the question of why these policies are so popular. The typical answer offered – the one favoured by politicians – is that they are a highly efficient way of addressing the challenge of unwanted migration. If migrants cannot be managed after they reach their destination, why not contain them before they get there? These policies also have the great advantage of taking place outside the legal boundaries constraining liberal democracies, thus relieving receiving countries from potential liabilities. They also allow for the burden to shift to countries of origin and transit, which are invested with the responsibility (with only limited financial and logistical support) of dealing with unwanted migrants.

It is a very simple and appealing logic. It also seems very rational. In this sense it echoes what economists would call ‘externalisation’, the idea that in order to maximise profits a business may off load indirect costs to a third party. Whether this strategy is really effective when applied to the migration realm is, however, debatable. The cost of setting up remote control operations and supporting them with the latest technological gizmos is extremely high. There is also no easy way to measure success. Should we, for instance, regard more detections on the high sea as a positive development? Or should fewer detections be seen as a better sign of progress?
Certainly, it raises serious issues of fairness. While they do receive some (meagre) compensation, sending and transit countries often do not have a choice when confronted with their powerful counterparts’ requests. And opposition from various quarters (not just the usual suspects, such as the NGOs community, but also a growing number of European citizens) is mounting as well. I therefore wonder if the answer to the question of why these policies are so popular among policy-makers has less to do with rational calculations and more to do with something less visible and ‘logical’.
After all, economists are not the only ones talking about externalisation. This concept has famously been explored by the father of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud. From a Freudian perspective, externalisation is an unconscious copying mechanism aimed at soothing the anxieties that engulf our daily lives. This process occurs when we find a target – be it a person or an object – in which we project our own characteristics, often negative ones.
This mechanism has an important ‘positive’ function. Without the relief that it offers, we would soon reach a state of chronic neurosis. Its sides effects are equally unpleasant, however, since it can have deleterious consequences on the subjects of our projections, on our relations with them and, more generally, on our public image. The silver lining in this phenomenon is that it is typically temporary and that it can be reversed when the level of anxiety gets under control.
Whether this is possible when dealing with cases of collective externalisation (that is, when it is not just an individual involved but an entire community) is another story. Envisioning Europe’s remote control saga through a psychoanalytic lens, however, points to the fact that politicians’ fascination with these highly toxic policies has its roots more in ‘internal’ factors than external ones. If Europe really wants to confront its uncomfortable relationship with migration, it might have to start by looking at itself in the mirror.
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Note: This article gives the views of the author, and not the position of EUROPP – European Politics and Policy, nor of the London School of Economics.
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Ruben Zaiotti – Dalhousie University
Ruben Zaiotti is the Director of the European Union Centre of Excellence and Assistant professor in Political Science at Dalhousie University, Canada. He holds a PhD from the University of Toronto, a Master degree from the University of Oxford and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Bologna. He is the author of ‘Cultures of Border Control: Schengen and the Evolution of European frontiers’ (University of Chicago Press, 2011). He also writes on Europe and border control at Schengenalia and is on Twitter @Schengenizer
What about the roaming EU economic asylum seekers that flood into the same few countries? We have about 2 million East Europeans that have flooded into the country & we can’t cope with these numbers, they suppress wages & consume housing, schooling & education facilities making life harder for the indigenous unskilled population. The asylum seekers from outside the EU should be settled in the countries that have lost the largest numbers of their own populations if anything is going to change, however I firmly believe they should be kept out at all costs, we can’t identify the agenda of all these peoples who more & more could be terrorist sleeper cells.
Another monumentally ill conceived comment from you in which you argue we should turn our back on literally every refugee on the planet just in case they happen to be terrorists. Honestly, the depths to which some people will go to push an anti-immigration agenda is frightening.
We get it, you think every refugee, without exception, should be left to fend for themselves/die simply because of your own warped worldview. That’s brilliant – thankfully the rest of the world doesn’t have to listen to such appallingly callous nonsense.
I have to say your comments are plain daft, It is imperative that we defend our borders from any potential threats. Why can’t the fight be taken to their own country? Why can’t the so called reasons they flee to Europe be rectified on their own soil? & Why can’t the countries with the most space & falling populations in the EU be used to house the few genuine cases? I find it remarkable that your answer to asylum problems is to open our doors to the world. I have no problem with individuals sponsoring people to come into this country, putting them up in their homes & feeding & clothing them & paying their medical bills & their education needs, perhaps you are willing to support these cases? or maybe you think everyone else should put them up & cover their costs so you feel all warm at night?
Joe Thorpe,
well, if anything, the ones to disrupt the civil peace in other countries, should be the first to accept the refugees that the ensuing conflicts generate
I remember that that the UK only took a few tens of thousands iraqi refugees, when up to 5 millions have been displaced in neighbouring countries … yet, the UK was second to none in invading and destroying the social compact of Iraq.
we can also talk about Afghan refugees for pretty much the same situations.
or what about Palestinian refugees, when the UK is actively supporting the apartheid actions of the Israeli government, selling ti weapons and military software while “regretting the loss of civilian lives” ?
then ofc, there are also all those migrants from “Commonwealth” countries, say Pakistan, India, Sudan, Nigeria, Somalia, Kenya, Uganda, Sierra Leone …. who have no other choices but to use traffickers to escape poverty when UK officials refuse them a visa
…. and as to why Eastern European countries do not offer to house those refugees ? … well, quite simply because the refugees don’t ask to go there
their kins and communities are settled in England, not Transylvania
it’s not Hungary that imperially occupied the Nile valley or the Gange Basin.
Nor did Poland went on to bomb Afghanistan several times in past 2 centuries
and finally, about that big pack of lies about 2M Eastern European immigrating to the UK.
they are overwhelmingly young and active, that the UK government and official bodies unreservedly regards as net contributor to the UK Treasury and health system … that is, they pay more, A LOT MORE, than they take out in benefits and services.
so much so, that the pensions of old coots like yourself are actually PAID by those eastern immigrants (the UK needs last year taxes to pay today’s pensions)
on the other hand, what should the 2M+ active brits in the continents should be treated like, if we were to use the same standards as you ?
what about the 1M+ brit retirees that benefit from the national health services of european countries ?
Best regards,