The EU and Multilateral governance of migration in North and West Africa

The aim of this paper is to investigate the type of security governance that the EU puts in place when it deals with the question of migration by focusing more specifically on North and West Africa. The topic of migration serves here as an example of how the EU struggles to achieve its own security. For this purpose the paper will first investigate how migration has evolved as a security issue within the EU also pointing out the reasons for and the phases leading to the ‘external’ dimension of migration. The concept of “security governance‟ will be mobilized to grasp the multiple ways in which migration is regulated within the EU and towards external actors. The second part of the paper will focus on the different layers and frameworks of migration regulation that have been developed for and with West Africa and North Africa. This will allow us to see if and how the European Union deals consistently with origin, transit and destination countries, as well as the likely results and the possible inefficiencies.