“Everybody will tell you we are in charge, but we are not” A Process-Mechanisms Analysis of Migration Management and EU Border Externalisation in Bosnia & Herzegovina, 2017-2022

Abstract

This MA thesis employs a process-mechanisms analysis to examine the mechanisms of EU border externalisation, the gradual encroachment of EU border policies outside of its own territories, and how these enable the features and salient consequences of the migration management regime that is observable in Bosnia and Herzegovina from 2017 until the present day. Based on literary studies and ethnographic fieldwork, I argue that two interrelated processes related to EU border and migration management can be witnessed: An “internationalisation of migration management as a form of transnational governmentality” and “a local turn” in the execution of migration management since 2021. Through describing these processes and explaining the mechanisms that enable them, this thesis sheds light on the general process of EU border externalisation and its consequences on migration flows in the Western Balkans and on the state of BiH.