Justifying opposition and support to EU‐Africa cooperation on deportation in West Africa
本文提出一个分类框架，研究西非政治人物如何从身份、道德和功利角度为支持或反对与欧盟合作驱逐非法移民进行辩护，强调历史路径依赖（如新殖民主义）对移民政治的影响。
Abstract Migration, in general, is not a salient political issue in West Africa. However, one migration aspect that remains highly controversial and unpopular is cooperation on the deportation of undocumented emigrants with the EU and its member states. In this paper, we set out a typology of justification frames for studying how political actors in West Africa might frame their support or opposition to cooperation on deportation. We distinguished three types of justifications: identity‐related, moral, and utilitarian. While the moral (human rights) and utilitarian (political, economic, securitarian, labor) frames are rather classic justifications in migration politics and governance, our analysis shows that identity‐related (‘neo‐colonial resistance’ and ‘neo‐colonial compliance’) justification frames highlight how historical path dependencies matter in understanding the drivers of (migration) politics and governance in West Africa. This is particularly evident when the images of cuffed and shackled deportees from Europe evoke memories of dark historical pasts.