Marija Petrovska
GEM-DIAMOND doctoral fellow
ESR 12 – Contesting European border regimes: challenging and remaking EU migration governance
A researcher invested in critically understanding the nature / control of borders and securitization and the human consequences of border externalisation policies. Passionate about making academic research on complex political subjects accessible to the public.
Host Institutions
Delineating the roles of non-state actors in building legitimacy for and implementing
a transnational border surveillance apparatus in the Balkans
Supervisors
- Luiza Bialasiewicz
- Julien Jeandesboz
Research Question(s)
Main Question:
How do IOM/ICMPD/FRONTEX build legitimacy for and implement a transnational policing/surveillance/deportation apparatus in the Balkans?
Sub Questions:
- Why are shared narratives aimed at establishing an ‘objective reality’ in the field of ‘irregular’ migration important in the quest to govern it?
- What role do informal platforms for cooperation and knowledge exchange play in building ‘shared’ narrative and coherence on policy goals.
- How is the shared narrative concerning irregular migration built? By which processes? Through formal or informal practices?
- Do narratives around irregular migration produce consent for the implementation of technologically modernized and militarized border and surveillance control systems
- Are counter-narratives produced by civil society being co-opted and/or controlled?
How do IOM/ICMPD/FRONTEX build legitimacy for and implement a transnational policing/surveillance/deportation apparatus in the Balkans?
Sub Questions:
- Why are shared narratives aimed at establishing an ‘objective reality’ in the field of ‘irregular’ migration important in the quest to govern it?
- What role do informal platforms for cooperation and knowledge exchange play in building ‘shared’ narrative and coherence on policy goals.
- How is the shared narrative concerning irregular migration built? By which processes? Through formal or informal practices?
- Do narratives around irregular migration produce consent for the implementation of technologically modernized and militarized border and surveillance control systems
- Are counter-narratives produced by civil society being co-opted and/or controlled?
Selected Case Studies
I will look at the role of IOM, ICMPD and Frontex in the Western Balkans (particularly their role in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and North Macedonia).
I am a joint PhD candidate in International Relations and European Studies at the University of Amsterdam and Université libre de Bruxelles, under the co-supervision of Luiza Bialasiewicz (UVA) and Julien Jeandesboz (ULB).
Prior to this doctorate, I completed a Master's degree in Journalism at Monash University, in which I received the Faculty of Arts award for the highest academic achievement in the cohort. My MA thesis: ‘Exploring the Evolving Relationship Between Aid Organizations and the Elite Press in the Context of Migration Reporting’, interrogated the central role aid organizations play as news sources and their capacity to define critical issues of mobility and migration.
In addition to my academic experience, since 2015 I have been active in various hotspots along the Balkan migration route, including in Greece, Bosnia & Herzegovina and Serbia. In both a grassroots capacity and as a freelance journalist/researcher, I have worked with numerous organizations over the years, including: Truck Shop, Are You Syrious? (AYS), TransBalkanska Solidarnost, Lighthouse Reports and the Transnational Institute (TNI).
Prior to this doctorate, I completed a Master's degree in Journalism at Monash University, in which I received the Faculty of Arts award for the highest academic achievement in the cohort. My MA thesis: ‘Exploring the Evolving Relationship Between Aid Organizations and the Elite Press in the Context of Migration Reporting’, interrogated the central role aid organizations play as news sources and their capacity to define critical issues of mobility and migration.
In addition to my academic experience, since 2015 I have been active in various hotspots along the Balkan migration route, including in Greece, Bosnia & Herzegovina and Serbia. In both a grassroots capacity and as a freelance journalist/researcher, I have worked with numerous organizations over the years, including: Truck Shop, Are You Syrious? (AYS), TransBalkanska Solidarnost, Lighthouse Reports and the Transnational Institute (TNI).
