Borderscapes in Italy and Spain: Battlegrounds for Unaccompanied Minors Migration Governance

This study investigates the evolving governance of unaccompanied minors (UM) within migration and border regimes in European Union. Against the backdrop of rising global inequalities, climate-induced displacement, and democratic erosion, it critically examines how securitized and illiberal policy trends have reshaped the treatment of UM, often in tension with international human rights standards and child protection frameworks. Grounded in the conceptual lens of borderscapes—dynamic and contested spaces where bordering, debordering, and rebordering processes unfold—the research reinterprets EU peripheries such as Italy and Spain not only as two of the major ports of entry but as politically and socially significant frontiers. These regions function as laboratories of hybrid governance, where liberal and illiberal practices intersect and coexist among different actors - state and non state; public and private - exposing contradictions between humanitarian obligations and security imperatives. The analysis further explores core–periphery interactions, emphasizing how decisions made in metropolitan centers and supranational institutions cascade into peripheral areas, shaping local governance dynamics. While central authorities often impose deterrence-oriented and securitized frameworks, peripheral actors - municipalities, NGOs, and grassroots networks - adapt, resist, or reinterpret these directives in ways that reflect local realities. This interplay produces a fragmented governance landscape marked by asymmetries of power and responsibility, where peripheries simultaneously absorb the consequences of restrictive policies and innovate alternative, rights-based responses. A central focus is the local turn in migration governance, highlighting the growing role of municipalities, civil society actors, and grassroots initiatives in shaping responses to UM. In contrast to centralized, deterrence-based approaches, local actors often implement inclusive, rights-based practices, particularly in peripheral areas where state authority is fragmented or contested. This bottom-up engagement offers alternative models of care and protection, challenging restrictive national frameworks and contributing to the reconfiguration of borderscapes. Methodologically, the study adopts a comparative and transnational approach, combining policy analysis, legal review, and interviews with practitioners and unaccompanied minors. Drawing on critical migration and border theories - including Agamben’s “state of exception” and Dempsey’s “spaces of violence” - it explores how exceptional legal measures become normalized in border governance and disproportionately affect UM vulnerability. By mapping the evolution of immigration policies and their implementation across national and local levels, in two EU border states - Italy and Spain - this research advances understanding of how democratic backsliding and geopolitical asymmetries shape migration governance. Ultimately, it advocates for a rights-based, child-centered approach that reimagines borderlands not as zones of exclusion but as spaces of belonging, resistance, and transformative potential.