The European Union's Governmentality of Climate-Induced Migration: A Need for Reconceptualisation

GİRAY BOZKAYA Ö.

International Migration, cilt.63, sa.5, 2025 (SSCI, Scopus) identifier

  • Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
  • Cilt numarası: 63 Sayı: 5
  • Basım Tarihi: 2025
  • Doi Numarası: 10.1111/imig.70095
  • Dergi Adı: International Migration
  • Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), Scopus, Academic Search Premier, International Bibliography of Social Sciences, Agricultural & Environmental Science Database, American History and Life, Geobase, Historical Abstracts, Political Science Complete, Public Affairs Index, Social services abstracts, Sociological abstracts, vLex, Worldwide Political Science Abstracts
  • Anahtar Kelimeler: climate-induced migration, European Union, governmentality, legal acts
  • Dokuz Eylül Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

Climate change has been irreversibly increasing its impact on human migration. This issue calls for an inclusive protection framework worldwide. In this context, one could expect the European Union (EU), a leading actor in global climate governance, to pioneer a more holistic conceptual framework for climate migration. However, the EU's rationality tends to portray a different picture in policymaking. This study conducts a content analysis of 62 selected legal and other acts between 2009 and 2024 to evaluate the EU's governmentality of climate migration. The use of climate change and migration-related concepts, both separately and interrelatedly, is analysed using MAXQDA through both quantitative and qualitative methodologies. The research theoretically benefits from Michel Foucault's governmentality perspective. It finds that the conceptualisation and human rights-based approach (HRBA) of the EU to climate-induced migration are notably limited in the documents. The EU's governmentality of climate-induced migration reveals itself as slow-moving policymaking.