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H2020Individual fellowship2015–2017

MOLECOPS · International mobility, local economics and European cooperation policies in the central Sahara

Horizon 2020 — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Duration
2015-05-01 → 2017-04-30
EU contribution
€195,455
Participants
1
Scheme
MSCA-IF-EF-ST

Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.

Results in brief

International mobility, local economics and European cooperation policies in the central Sahara

Over the last decade, the European Union has put migration at the heart of its relations with North and West Africa. It finances a broad range of programmes that aim at a better management of migration, particularly in the Sahara, where regional labour migration is often assimilated, by European governments and a broader public, to onward migration to Europe. EU interventions in the area range from encouragement of legal reforms to assistance in the repatriation of migrants, via equipping border posts with sophisticated means of control. EU interventions in the area take different forms, but they all have in common that they are rarely coordinated with each other, and that little is known of their actual impact and side-effects on the ground as no comprehensive survey of these measures had been established so far, and as no field research had been carried out to address these questions. By combining an exhaustive analysis of European policies with empirical fieldwork, the aim of this research project is to study the nature and practical results of European intervention in migration issues in the central Sahara, and its global cost. With a view towards understanding and critically assessing the representations and assumptions that underpin them, it fills an obvious knowledge gap, as well as advances more theoretical and comparative debates about international migration, foreign intervention, and the link between migration and development.

Data: CORDIS, © European Union

Project objective

Migration by nationals of sub-Saharan countries to the Sahara, often assimilated by African and European public institutions to departures to Europe, have, over the last decade, become the object of increased surveillance. The European Union has put migration at the heart of its relations with Africa, and finances a broad range of programmes that aim at a better management of migration in the Sahara. Ranging from encouragement of legal reforms to assistance in the repatriation of migrants, via equipping border posts with sophisticated means of control, EU interventions in the area take different forms, but they all have in common that little is known of their actual impact and side-effects on the ground. The aim of this research project is to study the nature and practical results of European intervention in migration issues in the central Sahara, and its global cost, by combining an exhaustive analysis of European policies with empirical fieldwork, with a view towards understanding and correcting the representations and assumptions that underpin them. The project will be hosted by the International Migration Institute (IMI) at the University of Oxford. The IMI is a leading research centre with regards to international migration and the legality and legitimacy of international intervention. Training at and collaboration with the IMI would allow the researcher to develop an innovative theoretical framework for future research, leading to a critical turn in his career. Results of the research will be of considerable academic and public interest. Most importantly, it will have important implications for European migration policy, producing reports that should become required reading for everybody involved in these matters. The candidate will do his utmost, during and after the fellowship, to reach this potential institutional audience.

Original text from CORDIS.

Participants

  • THE CHANCELLOR, MASTERS AND SCHOLARS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD · OxfordCoordinatorUnited Kingdom

Links

Data: CORDIS, © European Union