The Exclusionary Politics of Asylum

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-ix

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2. Introducing the Exclusionary Politics of Asylum: The Management of Dislocation

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 1-1

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   2. A Dislocated Territorial Order? Introducing the Asylum ‘Problem’

      • Vicki Squire

      Pages 3-20

   3. Challenging Managerial Operations: Developing a Discursive Theory of Securitisation

      • Vicki Squire

      Pages 21-42

3. The Development of the Exclusionary Politics of Asylum: Political, Public and Popular Narratives of Control

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 43-43

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   2. Moving to Europe: Charting the Emergence of Exclusionary Asylum Discourse

      • Vicki Squire

      Pages 45-67

   3. Restricting Contestations: Exclusionary Narratives and the Dominance of Restriction

      • Vicki Squire

      Pages 68-90

4. The Extension and Diffusion of the Exclusionary Politics of Asylum: Deterrent Technologies of ‘Internal’ and ‘External’ Control

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 91-91

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   2. Interception as Criminalisation: The Extension of Interdictive ‘external’ Controls

      • Vicki Squire

      Pages 93-115

   3. Dispersal as Abjectification: The Diffusion of Punitive ‘Internal’ Controls

      • Vicki Squire

      Pages 116-141

5. Contesting the Exclusionary Politics of Asylum: From Deterrence to Engagement

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 143-143

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   2. Sovereign Power, Abject Spaces and Resistance: Contending Accounts of Asylum

      • Vicki Squire

      Pages 145-166

   3. Rethinking Asylum, Rethinking Citizenship: Moving Beyond Exclusionary Politics

      • Vicki Squire

      Pages 167-186

6. Back Matter

   Pages 187-221

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This critique of the securitization and criminalization of asylum seeking challenges the claim that asylum seekers 'threaten' receiving states. It analyzes recent policy developments in relation to their wider historical, political and European contexts and argues that the UK response effectively renders asylum seekers as scapegoats.

• Asylum
• Europe
• Policy
• politics
• european union politics

Shortlisted for the 2010 BSA Philip Abrams Memorial Prize

'Theoretically sophisticated and empirically well-grounded, The Exclusionary Politics of Asylum is an important addition to critical literature on the politics of refuge in Europe. Squire's assured dissection of the discourses and practices through which the problematic figure of the asylum seeker is produced underpins a fascinating mediation on securitization, sovereign power and territoriality in the contemporary European political order.'

-David Owen, Professor of Social and Political Philosophy, University of Southampton, UK

'An outstanding contribution to the study of the securitisation of asylum, this book is a must read for anyone interested in the critical study of migration, borders, and citizenship. Through a theorisation of 'acts of citizenship', Vicki Squire brilliantly demonstrates how migrants are emerging as agents that interrupt and move beyond the exclusionary politics of asylum.'

- Peter Nyers, Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, McMaster University, Canada

'This is a timely and ambitious book...it constitutes a serious contribution to critical debates on the possibilities of a post-territorial conception of citizenship. Challenging contemporary readings of the politics of migration and highlighting the dangers that are associated with the failure to move beyond a territorially-based conception of citizenship, Vicki Squire offers a theoretically engaging and empirically rich contribution on a burning issue of contemporary politics.'

- Aletta J. Norval, Reader in Political Theory, Department of Government, University of Essex, UK

'Squire's book is a good point of departure for debating issues of asylum, and almost necessary reading for practitioners in the field of asylum.'

- Nordic Journal of Ethnicity and Migration

Decidedly conceptual, The Exclusionary Politics of Asylum is a forceful contribution to critical citizenship and forced migration studies. As such, it is particularly recommended to readers following the theoretical debates in this dynamic research area...One looks forward to reading further analysis of the issue in the author's future studies.'

- Journal of Refugee Studies

'This is a sophisticated study with a strong theoretical foundation which will be of great interest to scholars already familiar with the issues surrounding the politics of asylum.'

- Lucy Mayblin, Sociology Department, University of Warwick

• The Open University, UK

  Vicki Squire

VICKI SQUIRE is RCUK Research Fellow at the Centre for Citizenship, Identities and Governance and at the Department of Politics and International Studies (POLIS), The Open University, UK.