A new EUtopia – Understanding Common European Asylum System (CEAS) and the criminalisation of migration in Europe

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to expound and critically analyse the proposed reform of the Common European Asylum System (CEAS) in December 2023. Drawing on insights from migration science and political philosophy, it argues that political agreement on the controversial reform can best be understood through a Foucauldian lens, conceptualising the European border regime as a biopolitical space in which migrant lives are contested. Against the background of the ever-expanding criminalisation and securitisation of migration, analyses of disciplinary and biopower offer unique insights into modern-day European asylum and border politics. The article criticises the bifurcation of European rights discourses in light of this trend, and calls for differentiated engagement with developments in European asylum politics.