CfP Panel "Between unilateralism and collective action: Paradoxes in European migration governance", 2025 ECPR General Conference

Call for papers: Panel "Between unilateralism and collective action: paradoxes in European migration

governance", ECPR General Conference 2025, 26 – 29 August, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece

Section S30: International Migration: Policies and Practices

Panel co-chairs: Maud Bachelet (University of Geneva), Philipp Lutz (University of Geneva and Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam)

Please submit your abstracts (no more than 250 words) as well as 3-8 keywords to Maud Bachelet (maud.bachelet@unige.ch) by December 20th, 2024. Please include in your proposal your email address as registered in your My ECPR account.

This panel aims to address the growing tension between states’ unilateral measures and attempts of collective action in European migration governance. While recent years have seen a rise in restrictive, state-driven policies aimed at controlling borders and limiting access to asylum, there are also significant moves toward heightened cooperation, as exemplified by the adoption of the New Pact on Migration and Asylum and the activation of the Temporary Protection Directive in response to the Ukrainian crisis. This paradox raises questions about the sustainability and credibility of collective approaches to refugee protection among European countries, as well as the causes and consequences of this duality of national and European policy-making.

The panel seeks to explore the complexities underlying the duality in current European migration governance and invites contributions providing answers to the following questions: What factors drive Member States toward unilateral actions, despite frameworks designed for shared responsibility? How does unilateralism influence the effectiveness of collective initiatives? What explains European cooperation despite the deep division between and

within member states? What are the implications of (non-)cooperation for the Common European Asylum System and the broader goals of European integration? The panel also invites contributions that analyze the factors influencing both unilateralism and cooperation while examining the impact of these competing trends on the governance of migration and the protection of asylum-seekers.