Transnational Mobility and Externalization of EU Borders

EU border externalization has tremendous consequences for people on the move and for social workers along migration routes. This unique volume explores theoretically and empirically the developments of social work in this context, approaching the topic with a clear positionality in defense of refugees and their human rights.

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Transnational Mobility and Externalization of EU Borders: Social Work, Migration Management and Resistance addresses the topics of social work and international migration, with specific focus on the consequences of EU border externalization policies. The increasingly authoritarian character of EU border management raises a number of issues related to the role of social work within a context that is heavily charged, both ideologically and politically. After theoretically and historically contextualizing externalization with explicit attention to (neo)colonial genealogies of the current migration regimes, this book examines the complex inter-relations of social workers with key actors, namely mobile people, policy makers or funders. Particular attention is paid to the socio-economic and political impacts of the global Covid-19 pandemic on social work with variously categorized people moving across borders or immobilized incamps. Finally, the book explores how social workers and refugees resist violent migration controls and increasing criminalization of cross-border movements. This volume brings together contributions located in the so-called countries of origin and transit targeted by EU externalization interventions, as well as EU countries, in which social workers deal with the effects of border externalization and internalization.