Marko Lovec, Politics of the Schengen/Dublin System: The Case of the European Migrant and Refugee Crisis. In Günay, Cengiz and Witjes, Nina (Eds.), Border Politic: Defining Spaces of Governance and Forms of Transgressions, 127–142, January 2017
The Schengen/Dublin system requiring the first EU member state of entry to take full responsibility for migrants and applicants for asylum has placed an asymmetrical burden on EU border states, resulting in an emphasis being placed on the fight against illegal migration and the reduction of protections for refugees. The system has been explained in terms of intergovernmental decision-making and the dominance of security discourse which enabled member states to block the sharing of burdens. This chapter argues against this approach, grounded in mid-range theory, and finds that the regulatory framework is not due to a particular institutional-discursive setting as such but rather due to deeper causes such as the absence of community policies in areas relevant to migrations and asylum.