The Criminalization of Solidarity in the EUropean Border Regime

Abstract

This article explores the complementarity between the criminalization of solidarity and the externalization of EUropean borders by mapping laws across states working with Frontex. While both strategies have been widely documented and are central to the EUropean border regime’s deployment of violence, they have often been studied in isolation. The article pursues two goals that aim to contribute to documenting the effects of EUropean policies while avoiding the pitfalls of EU-centrism and presentism. First, it maps the geographical spread of laws criminalizing solidarity. Second, it examines how the EUropean border regime operates by analyzing convergences and divergences between legal systems. This approach requires contextualizing and situating these strategies in the longue durée history of European colonial empires. The article’s main contribution is to show through laws criminalizing solidarity how the EUropean border regime operates as a vehicle for normalizing and circulating legal regimes to deter, intercept, and push back people on the move.