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Deporting Foreigners: Contested Norms in International Practice (NORMS)

Deportation of irregular migrants and rejected asylum seekers is widely known to pit host states against these migrants, but deportation also pits host states against these migrants’ origin states. Liberal European host states cannot unilaterally send migrants back to the origin state they come from.

About the project

Deportation of irregular migrants and rejected asylum seekers is widely known to pit host states against these migrants, but deportation also pits host states against these migrants’ origin states.

Liberal European host states cannot unilaterally send migrants back to the origin state they come from. They depend on the origin state’s political willingness to readmit these migrants, and they depend on its practical assistance with identification and travel documents.

Without this kind of cooperation with origin states, immigration law may not be enforceable. Yet origin states have political, economic and cultural reasons not to collaborate. This partly explains why relatively few—less than half—of Europe’s unauthorised migrants are deported.

Conceptualising this as a conflict of interests, legal scholars and political scientists have focused on the incentives and coercion used by the host state to elicit the rational compliance of the origin state.

We take a practice-oriented and cross-country comparative approach to these norm dynamics. The comparative design includes one host state with high deportation rates (Norway) and one with low deportation rates (Sweden), as well as four unconsolidated states of origin (Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia and Ethiopia).

Moreover, NORMS also examines norm dynamics at the supranational level, as narrated by Norwegian and Swedish police officers who have participated in return operations carried out by the EU agency Frontex.

The project identifies the norms that determine (non-)deportability and theorises the scoping conditions under which they are promoted and contested.

Objectives

NORMS takes a path less trodden and trail-blazes an exploration of social norms in this field. We look at how state agents from host and origin states alike seek to legitimise or de-legitimise deportation, promoting competing norms in a contested policy field.

Research questions

  1. How do host and origin state agents involved with deportation normatively understand it?
  2. To which extent, how and under which conditions do these state agents engage in norm entrepreneurship to legitimise or delegitimise deportation?
  3. How do national norms of deportation evolve?
  4. To which extent and how do norms of deportation clash within the EU border agency Frontex?

Cooperation

The project is coordinated from the Institute of Social Research

Other partners:

Financing

The project in funded by the Research Council of Norway. The total grant is NOK 11 850 000.

Duration

2021 - 2024

Publications

  • Ostrand, Nicole Marie (2023). Cracks in the UK borderscape imaginary: opportunism, fluidity, and contradictions in implementing migration controls abroad. In Le Louvier, Kahina & Hough, Karen Latrice (Ed.), UK Borderscapes: Sites of Enforcement and Resistance. Routledge. ISSN 9781032395500 . doi: 10.4324/9781003350255-11.

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  • Ostrand, Nicole Marie (2023). Cracks in the UK imaginary of the strong and effective overseas border: disconnect, opportunism and flexibility in implementation. Border Criminologies Blog.
  • Ostrand, Nicole Marie (2023). the legitimising role of fundamental rights and forced return monitoring in deportations.
  • Ostrand, Nicole Marie (2023). Bottom up relational dynamics in European deportation norms: the relationship between forced return monitors and deportation escort officers.
  • Ostrand, Nicole Marie (2023). Cracks in the borderscape imaginary: Opportunism, fluidity, and contradictions in implementing migration controls abroad.
  • Ostrand, Nicole Marie (2023). Finding common ground? Transnational spaces of negotiation, coproduction and resistance in deportation practices and norms in Europe.
  • Paasche, Erlend (2023). Impact of cash incentives for reintegration assistance.
  • Paasche, Erlend (2023). UTENRIKS Roundtable discussion.
  • Paasche, Erlend (2023). NORMS presentation.
  • Paasche, Erlend (2023). Section, PRA442 workshop. Return and Readmission: A Normative Approach. .
  • Paasche, Erlend (2023). What is sustainable reintegration?
  • Ostrand, Nicole Marie (2023). Moral border work? The role of the Frontex Fundamental Rights Officer and forced return monitors in legitimising deportation practices and norms.
  • Slangsvold, Einar Lie; Paszkiewicz, Zofia; Tjønn, Mathias Hatleskog & Sæther, Steinar Andreas (2023). Studio 2 - Drømmen om Europa: Historien om migrasjon. [Radio]. NRK P2.
  • Paasche, Erlend (2022). Co-organized, presented at and moderated three high level panels at EU workshop on return.
  • Paasche, Erlend (2022). Presented at UDI/IOM Embassy Seminar, on the relationship between integration and reintegration. Participated in panel debate.
  • Paasche, Erlend; Brekke, Jan-Paul & Brochmann, Grete (2022). Europeisk dobbeltmoral. Dag og Tid. ISSN 0803-334X.
  • Brekke, Jan-Paul (2022). Vesentlig færre flyktninger til Norge: – «Hvorfor velger de ikke oss?». TV2.no.
  • Brekke, Jan-Paul (2022). Ekspert mener flyktningstrømmen til Norge kan være i ferd å nå toppen. TV2.no.
  • Brekke, Jan-Paul (2022). Mener flyktningstrømmen skiller seg fra tidligere: – Det er litt spesielt denne gangen. TV2.no.
  • Brekke, Jan-Paul (2022). Lang større vilje til å bosette flyktninger nå enn i 2015. NRK.no.
  • Brekke, Jan-Paul (2022). Flere positive til innvandring, flere skeptiske til integrering. Utrop - Norges første flerkulturelle avis.
  • Brekke, Jan-Paul (2022). Dagsnytt 18. NRK P1 og P2.
  • Brekke, Jan-Paul (2022). Temakveld med Jan-Paul Brekke.
  • Brekke, Jan-Paul (2022). Integreringskonferansen 2022.
  • Brekke, Jan-Paul (2022). Nordisk konferanse om sivilsamfunn og integrering.
  • Brochmann, Grete (2022). Tojes time: Grete Brochmann. Minervanett.
  • Brochmann, Grete (2022). NAV-konferansen 2021: La oss snakke om tillit.
  • Brochmann, Grete (2022). Disse vant priser under Vinterseminaret 2022. sosiologen.no.
  • Brekke, Jan-Paul & Fladmoe, Audun (2022). Hva mener folk i Norge egentlig om innvandring og integrering? Ny rapport gir svar. Aftenposten (morgenutg. : trykt utg.). ISSN 0804-3116.
  • Brekke, Jan-Paul (2022). Vi står overfor en masseutflukt. Hvordan bør Norge håndtere den? Aftenposten (morgenutg. : trykt utg.). ISSN 0804-3116.
  • Tjønn, Mathias Hatleskog & Akal, Ayse Bala (2022). Rerouting Europe-bound refugees to the Global South ignores their human rights. Peace News.
  • Paasche, Erlend (2021). Embassy seminar on return, keynote speech.
  • Brekke, Jan-Paul (2021). Flukt og asyl – dette er regjeringspartiene uenige om. Aftenposten (morgenutg. : trykt utg.). ISSN 0804-3116.
  • Paasche, Erlend (2021). PU Ledersamling i ID-enheten, innleder.
  • Paasche, Erlend (2021). Faglunsj i Justisdepartementet, innleder.
  • Paasche, Erlend (2020). CMI/UiB workshop on project development in migration studies, keynote speech.
  • Paasche, Erlend (2020). Norm Conflicts in International Return Practice, keynote speech.

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Published Feb. 24, 2022 4:41 PM - Last modified Feb. 24, 2022 4:41 PM