Chapter Two: the EU migration policy change – focuses on the development and the dimensions of the EU asylum and migration policy change. The first section examines policy development from the early 1990s to 2015. This section is divided into two broad categories of policy development: first, policies that focus on irregular migration control within the EU (by the EU institutions) and, secondly, policies that aim at deterring irregular migration from outside the EU external borders. The chapter demonstrates the policy change in two dimensions: 1) EU’s actions in irregular migration control have continuously been expanding beyond the EU external borders, and 2) there is increasing involvement of non-EU actors in irregular migration management. In either case, migration control and border protection mechanisms remain the predominant approach. However, an unprecedented shift in the migration management approach took place in 2015. The EU took a different policy course – that of addressing the root causes of irregular migration. The policy goes against the EU’s tradition of migration control and indicates a change in the ‘core’ of the migration policy framework that I term as a normative change.
Chapter three: literature review examines the scholarship of the EU’s asylum and migration policy change or failure to change. It discusses different scholarly arguments, including the
‘policy venue shopping’ argument that explains the communitarization of asylum and migration policy. ‘The race to the bottom’ argument explains the establishment of the Common European Asylum Policy. The chapter further examines the African partners' resistance to cooperate in the EU-Africa partnership and brings out the tension between the two partners in migration control. It also discusses the emergence of the concept of addressing the root causes
18
of irregular migration in the EU policy. Lastly, the chapter reviews the literature on the root causes of African irregular migration within the EU-Africa partnership framework and how scholars have linked root causes to coloniality politics.
Chapter Four: the theory chapter is based on constructivism. The study is informed by rhetorical action, which explains the hypothesis that ‘African partner countries constructed colonialism as the root causes of irregular migration and irregular migrants as the victims of colonialism to influence the EU policy migration change.’ For this study, rhetorical action involved a combination of rhetorical practices, including system narrative, issue narrative and identity narrative, to form mega rhetoric. System narratives criticized the Africa-EU neocolonial-like relationship. Issue narratives comprised the root causes of African irregular migration while identity narrative criticized the EU as a normative power.
While emphasizing the power of speech, the chapter explains how powerful rhetoric generates persuasion against an opponent. It further explains how rhetorical action by some actors results in rhetorical entrapment of the opponent, hence influencing it to adjust its behavior accordingly.
The credibility of rhetoric to the extent that the opponent cannot oppose the accusations or defend himself without demonstrating inconsistency and double-standards is referred to as rhetorical entrapment. Rhetorical action helps explain African and European partners' engagement and influence on the EU policy change.
Chapter five: the methodology - discusses rhetorical analysis as the analytical framework of the study. Rhetorical analysis is founded on rhetorical action and involves speech and text analysis. The methodology provides an analytical framework that brings speeches together to understand the process of framing and counter-framing of irregular migration and how rhetoric generates persuasion. The study used both official/diplomatic, and unofficial rhetoric from both African and European partners. Two hundred thirty-six video clips (speeches) captured during
19
the 2015 EU-Africa Valletta Summit were analyzed. The analysis used speeches from other online platforms to show the changing attitude both before and after the Valletta Summit. This is notwithstanding further text analysis to demonstrate the changing policy text in the EU policy documents.
Chapter six: empirical chapter – analysis rhetoric by both African and European leaders before, during and after the 2015 Valletta Summit. The rhetorical artifacts of the three periods are sequenced to show persuasion through rhetorical action. The study finds that by incorporating colonial rhetoric in African irregular migration management in around 2009, there was a successful rhetorical action and entrapment against Italy. Gaddafi demanded Italy pay for colonial injustice first so that Libya could participate in joint-irregular migration control. This was despite the fact that colonialism itself appeared irrelevant in the irregular migration control agenda. Italy compensated Libya for colonial injustices in return for cooperation on African irregular migration control. However, this rhetorical action was based on blackmail.
Even then, Libya’s rhetorical entrapment became the starting point to link colonial rhetoric to irregular migration control. During the 2015 Valletta summit, African partners embarked on neo-colonialism as the root cause of African irregular migration. Both African and European partners had different agendas. On the one side, the European partners, being under pressure to manage the migration crisis, were urgently searching for a workable solution. They also framed irregular migration as a threat to security in Europe. On the other side, the African partners were pro-active in articulating the rhetoric of the root causes. To make the rhetoric more persuasive, African partner countries strongly highlighted the inconsistency between the EU normative principles and external practices. As a result, the EU found itself entrapped: it could neither deny the validity of accusation nor defend itself. In other words, it was left without
20
other alternative other than to accept the African rhetoric of addressing the root causes of African irregular migration.
Chapter seven: discussion chapter – discusses rhetorical action, a strategy that African partners used to influence the EU policy change. African partners influenced the EU migration policy shift by constructing rhetoric of coloniality as the root cause of African irregular migration. Scholars consider the EU a normative power and an actor in a continuous process of reconstructing self and changing ‘the others.’ One gap left by the existing NPE scholarship is whether ‘the other’ can influence the EU in the event where its internal processes fail to yield normative power. This study contributes to filling this knowledge gap. Based on the evidence provided, and in the context of irregular migration control, ‘the post-colonial others’ have influenced the EU to reposition its normative actions. However, this evidence cannot be generalized to other social, economic and political spheres.
Chapter eight: conclusion and recommendation - The EU’s inability to decline the delegitimization of NPE by African partners or defend its inconsistency and double standards in upholding the shared norms and values is what this study refers to as rhetorical entrapment.
Any EU’s attempt to oppose would have put the EU in a worse state of self-contradiction.
According to Africa’s anti-neo-colonial rhetoric, the primary root causes of irregular migration included the exploitation of natural resources in Africa, the negative effect of climate change and the imbalance in the Africa-EU trade agenda. These are development areas where African partner countries felt disempowered and where the EU partners demonstrated dishonesty in their relations with Africa for not incorporating them in the irregular migration management.
The Africa-EU partnership, therefore, needs to redesign the economic agreement based on a true collaboration featured with shared responsibility, non-domination and non-partisanship.
To achieve this, the study recommends that the EU work with Africa as equal development partners instead of imposing ‘what it thinks is necessary for African development.’ The
21
consideration of Africa’s development priorities would enhance joint cooperation towards irregular migration management. This ultimately improves the sustainability of EU-funded projects in Africa, especially those addressing irregular migration.
22
23
CHAPTER TWO: THE EU MIGRATION POLICY CHANGE