In person icon International Politics of Return Diplomacy

Abstract

Western liberal democracies and the European Union increasingly emphasize migration control over asylum and humanitarian concerns. This has shifted focus towards deterring undesired migrants from arriving and deporting them if they do. This externalizes migration control, asylum policy and, by implication, extends borders outwards. These well-documented efforts have thus come to enact deterrence through ‘remote control’, affecting origin and transit states. Return diplomacy vis-à-vis these countries, however, has received comparatively little academic scrutiny, even though it has given rise to a dense web of international frameworks designed to facilitate the return and readmission. Against this backdrop, this panel explores different facets of the international politics of return diplomacy. In the face of the persistent "deportation gap"—the disparity between deportation orders issued and those carried out—Western states and the EU have continued to intensify their efforts to increase return rates, developing ever-new forms of cooperation frameworks on migration. Over the past few decades, return diplomacy has evolved from formal readmission agreements to informal and non-binding package deals, often negotiated with autocratic regimes. This development toward broader and more opaque deals at the bilateral level has also been reflected multilaterally at the EU level, where formal agreements have given way to a broader range of frameworks such as migration partnerships and other more informal arrangements and soft law developments. These may include, but are not limited to, cooperation on return and readmission. A Northern-centric and unreflexively realist ontology has limited the emergent body of research on return diplomacy. Existing research on return diplomacy often centers on perspectives of states and case studies in the Global North. Return diplomacy is thereby often understood within realist theories that highlight power asymmetries and state interests. This panel broadens the analytical and geographical scope to account for recent developments in this highly contentious but also highly salient policy field. It collects contributions that present novel conceptual frameworks for analyzing return diplomacy, explores the role of norm dynamics in shaping bilateral cooperation, investigates the involvement of non-state actors, studies novel developments at the EU and bilateral level, and offers perspectives from the Global South. Panelists will draw on frameworks such as migration diplomacy, realist and constructivist international relations theory, and, more specifically, the concepts of norm emergence and contestation. The guiding questions for this panel on return policies and practices are: What new dynamics of bilateral and multilateral cooperation can we observe between EU member states and third countries? How do norms shape return diplomacy, and whose norms are shaping international practices on return and readmission? How do Southern states perceive and respond to Northern pressures to enable returns? By examining the interplay of power, norms, and the diverse array of actors shaping return policies and practices, this panel seeks to rethink one of the most contentious issues in contemporary international politics.

Title	Details
Member States’ Return Cooperation with Non-EU Countries: Supporting, Replicating or Undermining EU Readmission Policy?	View Paper Details
‘It’s Like a Dog Barking.’ Non-Performativity as Anticipatory Politics: EU Migration Diplomacy on Refugee Return from Lebanon to Syria	View Paper Details
Return, Readmission and The EU Revised Visa Sanctions: A Normative View from Gambia	View Paper Details
Migration Diplomacy or Dialogue of the Deaf? (Mis)perceptions in the Cooperation Between African and European Countries on Return and Readmission	View Paper Details