The European Union's Governmentality of Climate-Induced Migration: A Need for Reconceptualisation

Abstract

Climate change has been irreversibly increasing its impact on human migration. This issue calls for an inclusive protection framework worldwide. In this context one could expect the European Union (EU) a leading actor in global climate governance to pioneer a more holistic conceptual framework for climate migration. However the EU's rationality tends to portray a different picture in policymaking. This study conducts a content analysis of 62 selected legal and other acts between 2009 and 2024 to evaluate the EU's governmentality of climate migration. The use of climate change and migration-related concepts both separately and interrelatedly is analysed using MAXQDA through both quantitative and qualitative methodologies. The research theoretically benefits from Michel Foucault's governmentality perspective. It finds that the conceptualisation and human rights-based approach (HRBA) of the EU to climate-induced migration are notably limited in the documents. The EU's governmentality of climate-induced migration reveals itself as slow-moving policymaking. © 2025 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.