The development-security nexus and its contribution to shrinking space for international protection: a review of the interaction of development policy discourse with US border externalisation in Latin America

BA Nathan AKEHURST, M.A.

Master's thesis

How has US border externalisation shaped policy thinking about migration and development in Central and South America?

Abstract:

This study evaluates effects of the "development-security nexus", a widespread framework merging development and security policy, on international protection and migrants' human rights, via its relationship to US border externalisation in Latin America. Externalisation refers to the creation of US infrastructure controlling migration downstream, effectively pushing its border south. This process has involved militarisation, detention, and surveillance; is linked to human rights violations and unequal inter- and intrastate relations; and structural undermining of the international protection system. Meanwhile, externalisation and enforcement has been fused with aid, migrant protection, and development policy. This study aims to determine if there is a relationship between development-security discourse and the role of externalisation in shrinking the space for international protection in the US-Latin American context, with reference to years 2008-2023. Secondarily, it assesses effects of development-security discourse and externalisation on conceptions of migration governance in the state and development sector. To do so it analyses US government documents, and interviews with migration governance practitioners. Three processes are uncovered that mark the "developmentalisation" of externalisation. The first is the presentation of enforcement as a development aim. The second is a "humanitarian border governance" concept that combines security and protection, the effects of which are highly contested. The third is the presentation of migration control as a development aim. This study contends that the security-development link has thus reframed how migration policy is understood; flattening contradictions between protection and control, embedding US security interests within development thinking, and contributing to narrowing access to international protection.

Abstract:

This study evaluates effects of the "development-security nexus", a widespread framework merging development and security policy, on international protection and migrants' human rights, via its relationship to US border externalisation in Latin America. Externalisation refers to the creation of US infrastructure controlling migration downstream, effectively pushing its border south. This process has involved militarisation, detention, and surveillance; is linked to human rights violations and unequal inter- and intrastate relations; and structural undermining of the international protection system. Meanwhile, externalisation and enforcement has been fused with aid, migrant protection, and development policy. This study aims to determine if there is a relationship between development-security discourse and the role of externalisation in shrinking the space for international protection in the US-Latin American context, with reference to years 2008-2023. Secondarily, it assesses effects of development-security discourse and externalisation on conceptions of migration governance in the state and development sector. To do so it analyses US government documents, and interviews with migration governance practitioners. Three processes are uncovered that mark the "developmentalisation" of externalisation. The first is the presentation of enforcement as a development aim. The second is a "humanitarian border governance" concept that combines security and protection, the effects of which are highly contested. The third is the presentation of migration control as a development aim. This study contends that the security-development link has thus reframed how migration policy is understood; flattening contradictions between protection and control, embedding US security interests within development thinking, and contributing to narrowing access to international protection.

Keywords

Externalisation, border governance, development, security, migration

Language used: Czech

Date on which the thesis was submitted / produced: 31. 5. 2023

Thesis defence

• Supervisor: Mgr. Radovan Dluhý

Palacký University Olomouc

Faculty of Science

Master programme / field:
Global Development Policy / Global Development Policy