Europe and the developing world: Confronting migration pressure

Led by Jørgen Carling

Jan 2003 – Dec 2003

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This project is part of the Strategic Institute Programme Looking Outward. The Quest for a European Security Identity and concerns the way in which migration pressure has become a central theme in Europe’s relations with the developing world.

The project focuses on unauthorized migration across Europe's Southern borders, especially from Africa to Spain. It aims to bridge the gap between the myopic perspective of daily media reports and the haziness of available academic research. In fact, books and journal articles about immigration to Southern Europe have focused on the situation of illegal residents and on the politics of immigration, but only briefly addressed undocumented migration itself. The project is based on the analysis of approximately 800 media reports, government statistics, various ‘grey’ literature, academic publications and detailed accounts of several thousand migrant deaths along Europe's Southern borders over the past decade. The analysis is focused on the following themes:

  • Patterns of unauthorized migration across Europe's southern borders
  • Patterns of transit migration from Sub-Saharan Africa to the borders of Europe
  • The role of transit countries and buffer zones in the migration dynamics
  • The interaction between migration control and human smuggling
  • Geographical and temporal patterns of deaths associated with unauthorized migration

Based on research within this project, Jørgen Carling has commented regularly on undocumented immigration in Norwegian media. This includes the radio programme Verden på Lørdag and a feature in Dagbladet's Magasinet (web publication).

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