Governing European borderlands: Austerity, migrant (im)mobility and the politics of aid in crisis-ridden Greece

乌克兰战争的毁灭性后果、塔利班对阿富汗的全面推进以及目前的气候危机表明，被迫流离失所和移民人数持续上升的趋势不太可能在短期内改变。在这种背景下，我的研究提出了一个根本性的重要和及时的探索如何在全球危机和动荡的跨国流动中改变边界。更具体地说，它关注的是这些过程在希腊形成的过程，希腊是过去几十年来欧洲移民过境和新自由主义重组的首要空间。我的博士研究通过寻求解决以下问题来探讨这个主题：在“欧洲难民危机”之后，哪些空间、时间和法律策略被用于重新控制移民流动，他们的历史和社会政治遗产是什么？在欧洲边境运作的政府、非政府和欧盟机构之间的协同作用和紧张关系产生并使哪些治理模式合法化？“难民危机”是如何运作的，为“希腊主权债务危机”提供了“解决方案”，反过来说，后者是如何制约为解决“难民危机”而设计的“解决方案”的？在解决这些问题时，我的博士对“难民”和“经济危机”如何共同构成欧洲的边界空间提供了一种新颖而细致的理解。该报告进一步强调，通过人道主义援助和政府间合作弥补业务缺陷的努力如何有助于在“难民紧急情况”范围之外重塑充满危机的空间和未来。我的博士学位为边界和移民提供了一种新的方法，结合了社会法律分析、政治地理、关键地缘政治、国家民族志和非政府组织的实践，以揭示边界是如何产生的，以及它们如何反过来产生空间、时间和身份。通过对援助人员、边防人员、营地管理人员、政府官员、欧盟热点地区的民族志观察、警察总部和人道主义空间、对地图、统计数据和政策的批判性分析，本研究对边界在当代世界中的复杂作用进行了深刻的跨学科分析。它进一步为移民权利组织、工会和政策制定者寻求解决侵犯人权问题以及紧缩政治对移民和当地人的影响做出了重大贡献。ESRC奖学金将支持我成为一名面向公众的学者的长期愿望，使我能够传播我的博士研究成果，并最大限度地提高其对不同受众的影响。在亚历克斯·杰弗里教授的专业指导下，该奖学金将使我能够：通过三篇高质量的期刊论文，建立博士研究成果的记录和传播；2. 2 .通过组织和参与学术活动和建立研究网络，在本学科范围内建立研究并发展学术网络，为未来的合作创造机会；向政策持份者及非学术界人士传播博士研究成果，以达致更广泛的社会影响；4. 4. 通过利用奖学金时间和拟议的活动来发展我未来的研究事业，最终确定一本书的建议，在奖学金结束时获得一份图书合同，并向Leverhulme早期职业奖学金和英国科学院博士后奖学金研究计划提交博士后研究资金申请。

As the devastating consequences of the war in Ukraine, Taliban's sweeping advance over Afghanistan and the ongoing climate crisis show, the trend of uninterrupted rise in forced displacement and migration is unlikely to change any time soon. Within this context, my research presents a fundamentally important and timely exploration of how borders transform amidst global crises and turbulent transnational mobilities. More specifically, it focuses on these processes as they took shape in Greece, a premier space of migrant transit and neoliberal restructuring in Europe over the last decades. My PhD research explored this topic by seeking to address the following questions: Which spatial, temporal, and legal tactics were deployed for regaining control over migrant mobilities in the aftermath of 'the European refugee crisis' and what is their historical and socio-political legacy? What modes of governance did the synergies and tensions between governmental, non-governmental and EU agencies operating in European borderlands produce and legitimise? How was the 'refugee crisis' operationalised to provide 'solutions' to the 'Greek sovereign debt crisis' and conversely, how did the latter condition the 'solutions' devised to tackle the 'refugee crisis'? In addressing these questions, my PhD offers a novel and nuanced understanding of how a 'refugee' and an 'economic crisis' co-constituted Europe's border spaces. Going a step further, it highlights how attempts to offset operational deficiencies through humanitarian aid and inter-governmental cooperation became instrumental in reshaping crisis-ridden spaces and futures beyond the scope of a 'refugee emergency'. My PhD forges a new approach to borders and migration combining socio-legal analysis, political geography, critical geopolitics, and ethnographies of state and of NGO practices to unravel how borders are produced and how, in turn, they produce space, time and identities. Drawing from a rich material of sixty interviews with aid workers, border guards, camp managers, government officials, ethnographic observations in EU hotspots, police headquarters and humanitarian spaces, critical analysis of maps, statistics, and policies, this research foregrounds an incisive and interdisciplinary analysis about the complex role of borders in our contemporary world. It further presents a significant contribution for migrant rights organisations, trade unions, and policy makers seeking to tackle human rights violations and the consequences of austerity politics on both migrants and locals.The ESRC fellowship will support my long-term aspiration to become a public-facing academic by enabling me to disseminate the findings of my PhD research and maximise its impact on diverse audiences. With the expert mentorship of Professor Alex Jeffrey, the Fellowship will allow me, in particular, to: 1. Establish a track record and disseminate PhD research findings through three high-quality publications in leading journals; 2. Establish my research within the discipline and develop academic networks towards creating opportunities for future collaboration, through organising and participating in academic events and forging research networks;3. Disseminate PhD research findings to policy stakeholders and non-academic audiences for broader social impact; 4. 4. Develop my future research career by using the fellowship time and proposed activities to finalise a book proposal, securing a book contract by the end of the fellowship, and submit postdoctoral research funding applications to the Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship and British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship Research schemes.