The EU's external migration policy and global political justice: the missing link

The chapter introduces the book by pointing out its specific contribution to the debate on the “external dimension” of the European Union’s (EU’s) migration policy. Firstly, the analysis aims to document, explain and assess the implementation of EU policies, especially after 2015 migration crisis, examining case studies representing different contexts – the European neighbourhood, the “neighbours of the neighbours” and the global level – each with their own characteristics in terms of institutional solutions, practices and underlying norms. Secondly, the book proposes a normative assessment of the EU’s actions based on a threefold conception of justice – as “non-domination”, “impartiality”, and “mutual recognition” – and brings to the fore the tensions between the justice claims made by the many actors involved in the EU’s system of migration governance. Thirdly, considering migration a key element of the EU’s external action and thus a crucial perspective to understand and evaluate the EU’s foreign policy and international role, it also looks at how migration governance feeds into the EU’s overall approach in different contexts, as well as the EU’s global stance. The last section introduces the book’s organization and the contents of each chapter.