Functional Actorness? Border Security in the EU and Turkey

Abstract

The European Union (EU) has fortified its external borders using a number of measures including the creation of new institutions and networks such as FRONTEX and EUROSUR. In non-EU countries such as Turkey, border security is being reorganized with EU support and cooperation. By combining the literature on EU actorness and neo-functionalism, I provide a theoretical toolkit to critically unpack these new developments through conceptualizing multiple dimensions of what I call functional actorness. The contribution analyzes how the functional transformation of EU and Turkish border security has produced a number of side effects which are critically appraised.

Keywords:

• border security
• EU actorness
• FRONTEX
• neo-functionalism
• Turkey

Additional information

Funding

Research for this article was conducted as part of the project “Border Policies and Sovereignty: Human Rights and the Right to Life of Irregular Migrants,” supported by Dutch NWO Vici grant number 016.130.061.