The De-securitization of Migration and Border Management in Italy

The Italian border and migration management is rooted in the migration-security nexus. Discursive and non-discursive practices performed by the Italian political élite have shifted migration form a non-political topic, to a politicized one, to a security issue. However, securitizing narratives and border processes have proven insufficient for an efficient migration management which complies with migrants’ human rights. After a theoretical overview on securitization, de-securitization and the position of the Italian migration governance in the security theory, this thesis will attempt to disarticulate the migration-security nexus in Italy. Alternatives to the current securitization of migration will be proposed to bring migration back in the political sphere, thus dismantling the Self-Other binomial. By adopting the Autonomy of Migration approach, the thesis will investigate the potential of the humanitarian and political borderwork performed by non-governmental actors in Sicily and of migrants’ collective resistance at the local level to achieve a de-securitized migration management. Counter-discourses and practices performed by actors of the solidarity sector, together with acts of citizenship performed by non-citizens – immigrants – destabilize, in fact, the security truth upheld by securitizing actors. However, for de-securitization to be effective, a tangible change in securitizing dynamics is required. A series of policy recommendations, aimed at achieving a human mobility in security and at enhancing the intercultural integration of immigrants will be addressed to Italy to restore the rule of law in the migration governance for the benefit of both: migrants and local communities.