Governing Migration through a Process of Compromising. A study of multilayered migration governance and partnership between the EU and Senegal

Abstract

This thesis discusses multilayered migration governance in the EU-Senegalese context. As this context is characterized by incompatible interests on migration control, I present the ‘process of compromising’ to study the interactions between the EU and the Senegalese government. I argue that the process of compromising shows how the Senegalese government has agency, which influences the interactions with the EU. In the thesis, I analyze three selected EU initiatives: the EU Emergency Trust Fund for Africa (EUTF), the Politique Nationale de Migration du Sénégal (PNMS) and the Rabat Process. These initiatives represent different forms of migration governance: funding, national policies and intergovernmental dialogues. I show that the EU presents these initiatives through the partnership approach, by emphasizing a spirit of cooperation and shared responsibility. Besides studying the presentation, in the analysis I also show how the EU and Senegalese government compromise on migration control. I argue that they do so through the process of compromising. This process is characterized by a continuous interaction through which an equilibrium is created. Through this equilibrium, both the EU and the Senegalese government can present a ‘work in progress’ on return and legal migration. By studying the process of compromising, this thesis contributes to existing literature on multilayered migration governance and partnership.