Despair as a Governing Strategy

Australia and the Offshore Processing of Asylum-Seekers on Nauru

Bibliographic Data

ID12334795
AuthorsCaroline Fleay (0000-0002-7013-240X, Oxford University Press (United Kingdom), corresponding author), S Hoffman (Curtin University)
Year2014
Volume33
Issue2
Pages1-19
Publication date2014-03-24
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueRefugee Survey Quarterly (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1020-4067 • E-ISSN: 1471-695X
PublisherOxford University Press (OUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1093/rsq/hdu004
OpenAlexW2120081762
LanguageEN
Citations received16
References cited3

Minister John Howard's Coalition government established the offshore processing of refugee claims. Known as the Pacific Solution, this policy included an agreement with Nauru and Papua New Guinea's Manus Island for asylum seekers arriving to Australia by boat to be transported to either of these islands where they would wait in camps while their refugee claims were processed. The majority of the asylum seekers subjected to offshore processing at this time were held on Nauru, and most had fled Afghanistan. Governmentality, as introduced by Michel Foucault and developed by later scholars, provides insight into the institutions, methods, techniques, strategies and tactics mechanisms used by governments to achieve its ends. This paper explores Australian government policy and the experience of Afghan asylum seekers held on Nauru from 2001 using a governmentality approach. Given that people seeking asylum in Australia are once again being transported to Nauru and Papua New Guinea, this time under a Labor government, this paper's findings are pertinent for insight into understanding current Australian policy

Ethnology · Government (linguistics · Governmentality · New guinea · Political science · Politics · Refugee · Responsible government · Sociology · Asian Geopolitics and Ethnography · Migration, Refugees, and Integration · Peacebuilding and International Security · Law · Public Administration

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