Auctioning of lives and strategic humanitarianism: the European Union and the refugee crisis from a critical perspective

Abstract

This article aims to analyze the consequences of the refugee crisis experienced by the European Union in 2015.  Through a specific theoretical framework called “critical realism”, it was established that the refugee crisis in Europe was not addressed on the basis of the humanitarian principles that inspire the foundations of the Union, but rather through various sovereign measures that aim to curb the entry of more refugees; the crisis also highlighted the relative institutional fragility of that institution, reflected in its inability to create a centralized system aimed at distributing proportionally the refugee population throughout Europe.  However, the European Union did fulfill a basic function: through various measures based on the individual interests of “security,” stopped entry and in fact rejected hundreds of miles of refugees waiting to enter Europe.  This paper will argue that these measures are the product of a certain (racist) identity atavism, as well as a strategy of various actors that who instrumentalized the crisis to advance their political agendas.