Governing European borderlands: Austerity, migrant (im)mobility and the politics of aid in crisis-ridden Greece

The devastating impacts of the war in Ukraine, the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan, and the ongoing climate crisis underscore the relentless rise in forced displacement and migration, a trend that shows no signs of slowing. In this complex backdrop, the project focuses on the processes as they took shape in Greece, a premier space of migrant transit and neoliberal restructuring in Europe over the last decades.

The project offers a novel and nuanced understanding of how a ‘refugee’ and an ‘economic crisis’ co-constituted Europe’s border spaces. It touches upon how attempts to offset operational deficiencies through humanitarian aid and inter-governmental cooperation became instrumental in reshaping crisis-ridden spaces and futures beyond the scope of a ‘refugee emergency’. Drawing upon field research combined with statistics, it seeks to contribute to knowledge production for migrant rights organisations, trade unions, and policymakers seeking to tackle human rights violations and the consequences of austerity politics on both migrants and locals.