From Persecution to Management of Populations: Governmentality and the Common European Asylum System

Resumé

Refugee protection has long been an issue of great moral and legal importance among the countries in Eu- rope. European states sent representatives to participate in the drafting of the UN Convention relating to the status of refugees 1951 together with its 1967 protocol – the international commitment to refugee protection and were among the first signatories. They have also been strong supporters of the UN Agency established as guardians of the Geneva Convention – the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) and participate as members of the UNHCR’s Executive Committee. However, these same states, when adopting legislation on refugee protection in European Union law appear Janus faced. On the one hand, statements of commitment to refugee protection are plentiful, on the other, mechanisms adopted aim to exclude the refugee even from being heard. In this article I will examine this contradiction using the concept of governmentality as developed by Michel Foucault. Deploying the three techniques of governmentality which Foucault developed most – sovereignty, discipline and biopolitics, I seek to dissect the asylum protection system the EU is developing and make visible the underlying structure of authority and power.