Critique of European Union Intervention in Mediterranean Migration: An Examination of How Territory Can Be Used to Understand Migration Phenomena

Migration has existed virtually as long as humans have. Migration as a social phenomenon is nothing new, however, the way migration and migrants themselves have come to be treated in the legal and political sphere has evolved over time. Today, a decent majority of democratic state governments view and respond negatively to migrants attempting to enter their borders. This is painfully obvious in the case of Mediterranean migration, primarily from Africa to Europe by way of the Mediterranean Sea. What is happening in the Mediterranean is a humanitarian crisis. This work critiques the intervention of the European Union in the Mediterranean, and offers a new insight into the migration phenomenon occurring there. In particular, Stuart Elden’s work in The Birth of Territory is used to examine this migration situation from the perspective of territory as a political technology, and make sense of the relationship between territory and migration