Browsing by Author "Pasanen, Eveliina"

The aim of this thesis is to study the governmentality of irregular migration in Finland by analyzing the practices, discourses and rationalities of governance through the Finnish policy discourses and policy suggestions. Irregular migration is currently a highly politicized issue in Europe, thus also in Finland. Especially after the higher inflow of asylum seekers in 2015, the government has introduced increasingly restrictive policies in attempt to govern migration. As a result, there is an increasing amount of irregular migrants at the very margins of society. Because of the politicized nature of the issue, and the direct impacts of the policies on the lives of migrants, it is crucial to systematically and critically study the policies and aim at understanding the underlying ideologies and political and ethical assumptions, as well as the possible social and political impacts of the policies. The theoretical background of the study is based on critical studies of migrant “illegality”, as well as anthropological policy studies and Foucault’s concept of governmentality, which offer a critical lens studying the larger processes of governance; the underlying political rationalities and the knowledge system that supports it. Finnish policy documents which aim to prevent irregular migration form the empirical basis for this research. Altogether 7 documents, 4 action plans and 3 yearly evaluation reports, were chosen based on their relevance to the topic. These documents are the key policy texts concerning irregular migration in Finland and they represent the official line of the Finnish Government. The methodological approach of the thesis is based on critical discourse analysis, integrated with Fairclough and Fairclough's political discourse analysis. The approach recognizes political discourse as fundamentally argumentative, primarily involving practical argumentation, and focuses on analyzing the problematizations of the issue and the proposed solutions that are based on these problem representations and the desired future state of affairs. The core findings of this research are that the policy discourses and policy suggestions constitute irregular migration as a political problem and an object of governance and highlight the need for action. The context of action is described as exceptional, characterized by a radical change and a growing number of migrants. At the same time, migrant “illegality” is produced as a natural fact, and irregular migrants are criminalized and marginalized, leading to their othering and exclusion. The measures of strict border control, increased internal control and deportation are represented as functional, natural and uncontroversial. The policy discourses promote effectiveness and efficiency, simultaneously highlighting the government in control. The policy suggestions further distinguish between those who are fit and unfit to live in the society and reinscribe the relation between the state, citizen and territory. A critical evaluation of the Finnish policies reveals their ineffectiveness and potential unwanted consequences of increasing the amount of irregular migrants, further marginalizing them and fueling public anxieties about migration. Researchers suggest that instead of basing policies on fears and ideological assumptions, they should be based on research findings, taking into consideration their long-term effects on society, the structural causes of migration and the human rights of migrants. Understanding the underlying political rationality of migration governance with its concern over the security and wellbeing of the population, and how the governmentality is connected to the development of techniques, expertise and other bodies of knowledge, helps to illuminate why the practices and discourses of migration control are so resistant to endure. The research concludes, however, that there always exists opportunities for resistance and that political claims of irregular migrants hold transformative potential that can challenge the sovereign practices of the state. Moreover, the everyday practices of the state, and how migrants actually experience the policies may be very different from the official representations of the state and would require further research.