A typology of resistance: the ‘hot potato’ of European return in West Africa

4Citations
Citations of this article
3Readers
Mendeley users who have this article in their library.
Get full text

Abstract

Forced returns from Europe are politically highly sensitive across West Africa. Yet, there is enormous pressure from the European Union on West African governments to improve cooperation on returns. This paper seeks to answer how countries such as Nigeria, Senegal and The Gambia are resisting this pressure. Based on 129 qualitative interviews on both continents, the paper develops a typology that shows that states use a range of responses in the face of external and domestic pressures. These range from reluctant compliance to both reactive and proactive incompliances. States are likely to use all these strategies at different times, sometimes simultaneously. Thus, countries are resisting return, albeit in subtle ways given their asymmetric bargaining position.

References Powered by Scopus

The Migration State in the Global South: Nationalizing, Developmental, and Neoliberal Models of Migration Management

139Citations
N/AReaders
Get full text

The Entrapment of Africa within the Global Colonial Matrices of Power: Eurocentrism, Coloniality, and Deimperialization in the Twenty-first Century

105Citations
N/AReaders
Get full text

Deportation, Anxiety, Justice: New Ethnographic Perspectives

96Citations
N/AReaders
Get full text

Cited by Powered by Scopus

The politics of migration policy implementation in Ghana

3Citations
N/AReaders
Get full text

Externalization Beyond “Immigration Risk”? UK Borderwork Creep in Africa and its Cumulative Rippling Effects

1Citations
N/AReaders
Get full text

“When There Is No Migration, the Whole Region Has a Problem”: The Political Priorities of Migration Policies in West Africa

0Citations
N/AReaders
Get full text

Register to see more suggestions

Mendeley helps you to discover research relevant for your work.

Already have an account?

Cite

CITATION STYLE

APA

Zanker, F. (2023). A typology of resistance: the ‘hot potato’ of European return in West Africa. Territory, Politics, Governance. https://doi.org/10.1080/21622671.2023.2198579

Readers' Seniority

Tooltip

PhD / Post grad / Masters / Doc 1

100%

Readers' Discipline

Tooltip

Social Sciences 1

100%

Article Metrics

Tooltip
Mentions
News Mentions: 6

Save time finding and organizing research with Mendeley

Sign up for free