Governing Migration Through Development
The Role of NGOs in EU Border Externalisation in Libya
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 10069747 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Agnese Pacciardi (0000-0002-7574-3365, University of Lund Lund, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Publication date | 2026-03-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | JCMS Journal of Common Market Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0021-9886 • E-ISSN: 1468-5965 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1111/jcms.70088 |
| OpenAlex | W7134200236 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 40 |
This article explores the role of NGOs in the EU's external migration management, focusing on a major EU‐funded development project in Libya under the European Union Emergency Trust Fund for Africa. Whilst much scholarship has explored EU‐level strategies and partnerships with international organisations, this article centres on the perspectives of small Libyan and Italian NGOs operating on the ground in so‐called transit countries. Drawing on interviews with NGO staff, it investigates how these actors reconcile their humanitarian and developmental mandates with participation in politically charged EU migration projects. Building on scholarship that conceptualises external migration governance as a contested and multi‐actor field, the article introduces a conceptual spectrum, from ‘pragmatic developmentalism’ to ‘principled humanitarianism’, to analyse how NGOs make sense of their roles within EU‐funded initiatives whilst seeking to preserve organisational autonomy and ethical commitments. Rather than simply implementing EU norms and policies, NGOs actively mediate and reinterpret these aims, reshaping external migration governance in ways that reflect their own priorities and constraints. By centring NGO perspectives and practices, the article contributes to efforts to decentre EU external migration policy analysis. It foregrounds agency from below and explores how NGOs perceive themselves as critical actors at the intersection of development, humanitarianism and border externalisation, who can shape how external migration governance unfolds in practice. At the same time, by contributing to EU externalisation efforts, NGOs may de facto advance the integration of the European migration agenda into development policy
Agency (philosophy · Autonomy · Corporate governance · De facto · European union · Institutionalisation · Politics · Scholarship · Transnational governance · Diaspora, migration, transnational identity · International Development and Aid · Migration, Refugees, and Integration
The Good Project
The humanitarian-development nexus
Advocates, Implementers or Allies? NGOs between Humanitarian Borderwork and Migration Management in Libya
Immigration Nation
Framing migration in the southern Mediterranean
Non‐governmental/civil society organisations and the European Union‐externalisation of migration management in Tunisia and Egypt
Humanitarians at sea
The Migration–Development Nexus in EU External Relations
Practising what they preach? Development NGOs and the EU’s Emergency Trust Fund for Africa
Policing the Desert
New Modes of Governance in the External Dimension of EU Migration Policy
The External Dimension of Europeanization
The Humanitarian Politics of European Border Policing
The Politicization of the Migration–Development Nexus
Civil Society and Migration Governance across European Borderlands
European Integration and Migration Policy
Three‐Level Games in EU External Migration Policy
Seeking Legitimacy Through Knowledge Production
The Tools of External Migration Policy in the EU Member States
Archetypes of Humanitarian Discourse
A Fleet of Mediterranean Border Humanitarians
Interventions on the concept of externalisation in migration and border studies
The EU Trust Fund for Africa
Repoliticization Through Search and Rescue? Humanitarian NGOs and Migration Management in the Central Mediterranean
Humanitarian Space as Arena
Turning the Tide? Why Development Will Not Stop Migration
The 'external dimension' of EU immigration and asylum policy
Introduction
Depoliticising EU migration policies
The Politics and Discourse of Migrant Return
Spillover dynamics and inter-institutional interactions between CSDP and AFSJ
Refugee Protection Meets Migration Management
EU border externalisation and security outsourcing
Colonial continuities and colonial unknowing in international migration management
Multilevelling EU external governance
| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1 |
| Citation span | 2026 - 2026 (1) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |