For over a decade European governments have invested in technological systems to develop new forms of border security in their attempts to regulate migration. Numerous innovations have been designed in order to grant border agencies an unbroken vision of the borderspace, thus allowing states to continuously enact the border beyond their territorial boundaries. Meanwhile, other strategies have been designed in order to control the movements and actions of 'irregular migrants' and asylum seekers following their successful attempts at reaching the territorial boundaries of the European Union (EU). In this thesis I seek to tease apart these technocratic claims of omni-voyance and pervasive control by focusing on the everyday realities of border control and the ways in which these are negotiated and resisted by those who seek to evade them. To this aim, I approach the border by drawing on assemblage theory, as well as feminist geopolitics' attention to performance and embodiment. Such an approach re-centres attention on the human performances of border control, emphasises the agency of 'non-human' actors, foregrounds the messy realities of borderspaces, and engages with the multiplicity of borders. In applying this approach, I argue that the border should not be thought of as a static entity; neither in its location in space, nor in terms of the actors that perform it. Instead, I have oriented my approach towards conceptualising the border as in a constant state of becoming - with actors being continuously added to and subtracted from the security assemblages which constitute the border. In particular I focus on the ways in which 'non-state' actors are increasingly being coerced into performing the border and what the effects of this are on those who seek to evade its violent gaze. In order to put this approach to work, I employ a multi-sited ethnographic study of three European borderspaces: the Frontex headquarters in Warsaw, the Straits of Gibraltar and an anonymised city in the United Kingdom (UK). In Warsaw and the Straits of Gibraltar (specifically the cities of Algeciras and Ceuta) my research was focused on two border surveillance assemblages: (1) The European Border Surveillance System (EUROSUR) operated by Frontex and (2) Spain's Sistema Integrado de Vigilancia del Exterior (SIVE) maritime surveillance system. I argue that the 'messiness' of the borderspace proves too complex for the surveillance system to control, the vision produced through SIVE being fragmented and stuttered through both human and technological flaws. I also highlight how securing the border is as much a temporal negotiation as it is a spatial one; the struggle for control over the borderspace comprising a contest of speed. The effect is a geography of the border that foregrounds the 'little details' of borderwork; exposing the flaws behind a scopic narrative that claims unceasing vision and an unhindered reach. While in Ceuta I also challenged the formal performances of the enclave as a 'humanitarian space'. Indeed, I argue that it is as a result of framing the enclave's detention centre as a reception centre for humanitarianism that irregular migrants can be detained in the autonomous city indefinitely. Yet the actors that perform the borders of the enclave do so in an untidy alliance which regularly springs leaks. I also discuss the tactics of the migrants who have made it to the enclave and who now seek to leave it again. In particular I note how their tactics of resistance have become entangled with the bordering strategies specific to the enclave. I also question the extent to which the border enclave and the specific identities forged by the migrants who pass through it will remain with them as they pass through future checkpoints of the European border - the evidence of their time spent in Ceuta locked in their fingertips. In the anonymised city in the UK my aims were to question the reach of the state into the everyday lives of asylum seekers. While the lives of asylum seekers are often described as being in 'limbo', I sought to question the temporalities and materialities of urban living for people stuck in the asylum system. I argue that the strategies used by the UK Home Office are intended to limit the movements and actions of asylum seekers in the city through securitising the support that asylum seekers are entitled to. I focus on the ways in which the border is carried by asylum seekers in the city through their use of ARC and Azure cards, especially, and the ways in which these cards serve to 'fix' people with the negative qualities and stereotypes associated with asylum seekers. Through volunteering for a group offering solidarity support to asylum seekers in the city, I also argue that this strategy of limiting movements can be resisted. Like the tactics encountered in Ceuta, however, these tactics frequently become entangled in the strategies of border control.

Illegal immigration has been a major topic of concern in the last few years in both the United States and the European Union; the policies and practices of border control and the use of detention have often been the center for political debate. Assessing the policies in the United States and the European Union in regards to how 'liberal' each are carried out through practice provides insight to the disparity between policy and practice. The thesis analyzes and compares the discourse used written into the policies, official government guidelines, and reports which focus on the approval and criticism of how the polices are put into practice through the United States and European Union government agencies; whist providing data on recent illegal immigrant trends along the U.S.-Mexican border, as well as the Greek-Turkish border. The results discovered conclude that the European Union writes more 'liberal' discourse into their policy and government guidelines than the United States; the European Union illustrates more concern for fundamental individual rights while carrying out practice along the borders; but is falling short in ensuring that Member States (such as Greece) carry out other policy areas up to European Union standards, in this case the use of detention. The implications of the thesis offer...

Syftets med denna uppsats har sin utgångspunkt i antagandet att globaliseringsprocessen har gett effekter i form av migration och den typ av organisation som betecknar EU och Frontex. Det huvudsakliga syftet är att utifrån en teoretisk diskussion belysa förhållandet mellan Frontex arbete och de mänskliga rättigheterna. De tre teorier som har använts är styrningsmentalitet, sociologisk globaliseringsperspektiv och mänskliga rättigheterna. Den metod som användes för att besvara undersökningens syftet har varit kvalitativ i form av textanalys. Denna teknik har gett tillfredställande resultat i besvarandet av problemformuleringen. Materialet visar att det finns ett avstånd mellan Frontex och de mänskliga rättigheterna, samt ett behov av harmonisering. Samtidigt visar materialet att det mest prioriterade strukturella området är kontroll och övervakning av dess primära grupp, de irreguljära migranterna. / The purpose of this paper originates in the assumption that the process of globalization has had an effect on the form of migration and on the type of organization that characterizes the EU and Frontex. Our main purpose is to shed light on the work of Frontex and its relationship to human rights from a theoretical perspective. The three main theories used are Governmentality, Sociology of Globalization, and Human Rights. The method followed for the purpose of the research was qualitative textual analysis, which showed satisfying results in answering our questions. The connection between the work of Frontex and Human Rights reveals their distance from each other and their need of harmonization. The most prioritized area of the agency is to control the borders of the European Union and supervision of migration, specifically the irregular migration.

This thesis explores the (re-)positioning of the EU border agency Frontex within a wider shift towards humanitarianism and human rights in EUropean border governance. By examining Frontex’s public self-representation through time, it shows that the agency has gradually appropriated humanitarianism and human rights, while at the same time continuing to rely on a conceptualisation of migration as a security issue. The thesis traces this development, outlining how the agency has increasingly mobilised all three discursive formations in its public narratives about itself, border controls, and unauthorised migration to EUrope. Seeking to move beyond analysing Frontex through its public documents and statements only, the thesis complements this analysis with insights gained through interviews and informal conversations with Frontex staff and guest officers, as well as participant observations at Frontex events and in joint operations between May 2013 and September 2014. Exploring the perceptions of those working for and with Frontex, it complicates common portrayals of Frontex as a unitary, rational actor in EUropean border governance. Instead, it argues that Frontex is better understood as a highly fragmented organisation situated in an ambiguous environment and faced with inconsistent and contradictory demands. Situated at the intersection of critical security studies and critical migration and border studies, this thesis seeks to make three contributions to these literatures: first, it argues that critical security studies would benefit from a cross-fertilisation with insights gained in new institutionalism, which add organisational dynamics as an additional layer of analysis to developments in broader security fields. Second, it provides insights into the relationships between the discursive formations of security, humanitarianism, and human rights in contemporary border governance. The thesis argues that the three formations, at times seen as opposed to one another, share a number of important commonalities that create the conditions of possibility for the appropriation of humanitarianism and human rights by security actors such as Frontex, and for the emergence of new coalitions of actors in the EUropean border regime; as security, humanitarian, and human rights actors share the goal of rendering EUropean border controls less (visibly) violent. Third, the thesis provides rare empirical insights into the security actor Frontex, which has remained relatively opaque and elusive despite attracting much interest within academic and activist communities alike.

Denna uppsats klargör vad Schengensamarbetet är för något, varför det finns och hur det fungerar. Uppsatsen går igenom alla delar av samarbetet som till synes största del består av att avskaffa personkontrollerna mellan medlemsländerna.

The purpose of this study is to examine if the european coast guard and border agency named Frontex has an operational strategy that is securitized. This study examines three different discourses in the operational strategy and uses a securitization theory as a model for explanation. The securitization theory presented in this study has three different stages that you can use to explain whether a discourse is securitized or not and if an actor is trying to break free from the normal political channels. The three different stages of securitization are: 1) Politization which means that an actor hasn’t broken free from the normal political rules and that the discourse which the actor is working in isn’t securitized. 2) Securitizing move which means that an actor is trying to affect the discourse in the way so that a threat has been constituted. 3) Successful securitization which means that an actor has managed to securitize a discourse and successfully constitute an existential threat which has been acknowledged by the audience of the actor. This will lead to an increase in resources for the actor so that the constituted threat can be dealt with. What this study concluded was that the operational strategy can be seen as securitized in some regards but also politized in others. The study also acknowledged the existence of some securitization moves which means that the actor in this case Frontex was trying to move the discourse. What this study also concluded was that there is needed more material and time put down to get a more conclusive answer, but this study can although be seen as an introduction into the subject and how securitization theory can be used to analyze different materials.

Understanding identities as socially and collectively constructed, this study aims to show how FRONTEX, the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, takes part in the construction of a collective EU-identity. Through practises of bordering, differentiation, as well as the construction of the Other, FRONTEX plays an important and previously neglected role in the construction of a common EU-identity shared among the member states. By promoting theimportance of the EU’s external borders and the dangers of the outside world, FRONTEX reproduces the narrative where the EU is seen as a community of common values and ideas in need of protection.

The aim of this diploma thesis lies in detail description of the whole Schengen system including its links to the general EU legal framework and in critical analysis of selected issues that the Schengen system is currently facing. The first chapter of the thesis deals with a general legal framework of the free movement of persons and the area of freedom, security and justice. The second chapter is devoted to the formation, development, actual legal framework and territorial scope of the Schengen system. Further there is a detail description of schengen cooperation with emphasis put on the protection of external borders and FRONTEX agency. By using a journal articles and relevant case law of the Court of Justice of the EU the third chapter is aiming to analyze selected issues of realization of Schengen system and to name its current challanges.

Uppsatsen analyserar EU:s allt mer komplexa gräns och gränsförvaltningar i en tid där migration och gränsen har blivit ett allt viktigare ämne inom politik och hos EU:s invånare. Uppsatsen syfte är att få en djupare förståelse för moderna gränser och gränspraktiker bortom den klassiska synen av territorialitet inom internationella relationer. Undersökningen är en diskursanalys av den europeiska gräns- och kustbevakningsbyrån Frontex årliga riskanalyser publicerade mellan 2014- 2018. En poststrukturalistisk analys inspirerad av ”Critical boarder studies” där Michel Foucaults förståelsen av makt och produktiv makt används. Undersökningen fokus är att synliggöra Frontex diskursiva makt och maktpraktiker relaterade till EU:s södra yttre gräns genom en applicering av Foucaults begrepp produktiv makt på Frontex diskursiva representation av EU:s södra yttre gräns. Undersökningen visar hur Frontex handlingar, sätt att analyser och granska gränsen och sin egen verksamhet tydligt fokuserar på den produktiva makten för att förändra beteenden, synsätt och möjligheter till att agera. / The thesis analyses EU’s evermore complex borders and border management in a time where migration and borders have become an increasingly important subject in politics and with EU´s citizens. The purpose of the thesis is to get a deeper understanding of the modern border and border-practises beyond the classic view of territoriality within international relations. The study is a discourse analysis of the European border and cost guard agency Frontex yearly risk analysis published between 2014- 2018. A post-structuralistic analysis inspired by ”Critical Border Studies” where Michel Foucaults understanding of power and productive power is used. The thesis focus is on exposing Frontex discursive power and power-practises related to EU’s southern outer border with the application of Foucaults concept of productive power on Frontex discursive representation of EU’s southern outer border. The study shows how Frontex actions, ways to analys and view the boarder, and there on operation clearly focuses on the productive power to change behaviour, outlook and the possibility to act.

The European Border and Coast Guard Agency, also known as Frontex, works with issues related to migration and transnational crime via various practical approaches such as: Multilateral cooperation, border surveillance, and information sharing. By viewing these practical approaches as means of power resources, Frontex's ways in dealing with migration and crime becomes interesting to study. Based on Joseph Nye’s theory on Soft Power, this essay focuses on discovering whether Frontex's approach to migration and transnational crime can be compared to soft or hard means of power - which of these theoretical schools is more prominent, or, are there equal aspects from both schools? Using a discourse analysis, I create themes in order to sort signs of soft power versus signs of hard power more easily in the present text material. Thus, the method regards the interpretation of the EU regulation that forms the textual basis for this study, in order to produce useful concepts that constitutes signs of means of power. The results of this study provides a variety of power resources that are similar to either soft power or hard power, that altogether allows for a nuanced view of Frontex’s activity.