Blurred Accountability in European Border Management
(2015) STVM23 20151Department of Political Science
- Abstract
- Allegations of human rights violations have haunted Frontex, the border agency of the EU, from its very existence in 2004. Although in 2011, the agency became subject to a comprehensive human rights “overhaul”, such infringements continue to take place. This thesis sets out to explore this puzzle by applying principal-agent theory. The argument is that Frontex’s establishment represents an outlier case of regular delegation processes and consequently the agency lacks a clearly identifiable principal. The implications of Frontex’s blurred delegation process are examined in the light of Frontex’s involvement in push-back operations at the Greek-Turkish border in 2012/2013, which was compiled in several NGOs reports. By applying a conceptual... (More)
- Allegations of human rights violations have haunted Frontex, the border agency of the EU, from its very existence in 2004. Although in 2011, the agency became subject to a comprehensive human rights “overhaul”, such infringements continue to take place. This thesis sets out to explore this puzzle by applying principal-agent theory. The argument is that Frontex’s establishment represents an outlier case of regular delegation processes and consequently the agency lacks a clearly identifiable principal. The implications of Frontex’s blurred delegation process are examined in the light of Frontex’s involvement in push-back operations at the Greek-Turkish border in 2012/2013, which was compiled in several NGOs reports. By applying a conceptual framework that operationalizes accountability it is revealed that Frontex that the newly established accountability mechanisms are not able to remedy already existing accountability deficits. More crucial, because responsibilities among Frontex and the agency are diluted, the agency can escape its responsibility for human rights violations. As long as the agency remains an amalgam of a community and a member state agency, these accountability are deemed to persist or even increase, unless a political decision is made. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/7752470
- author
- Haas, Anna LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- STVM23 20151
- year
- 2015
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- keywords
- European Border Management, Human Rights Violations, Accountability, Principal-Agent Theory, Frontex
- language
- English
- id
- 7752470
- date added to LUP
- 2015-09-09 17:16:36
- date last changed
- 2015-09-09 17:16:36
@misc{7752470, abstract = {{Allegations of human rights violations have haunted Frontex, the border agency of the EU, from its very existence in 2004. Although in 2011, the agency became subject to a comprehensive human rights “overhaul”, such infringements continue to take place. This thesis sets out to explore this puzzle by applying principal-agent theory. The argument is that Frontex’s establishment represents an outlier case of regular delegation processes and consequently the agency lacks a clearly identifiable principal. The implications of Frontex’s blurred delegation process are examined in the light of Frontex’s involvement in push-back operations at the Greek-Turkish border in 2012/2013, which was compiled in several NGOs reports. By applying a conceptual framework that operationalizes accountability it is revealed that Frontex that the newly established accountability mechanisms are not able to remedy already existing accountability deficits. More crucial, because responsibilities among Frontex and the agency are diluted, the agency can escape its responsibility for human rights violations. As long as the agency remains an amalgam of a community and a member state agency, these accountability are deemed to persist or even increase, unless a political decision is made.}}, author = {{Haas, Anna}}, language = {{eng}}, note = {{Student Paper}}, title = {{Blurred Accountability in European Border Management}}, year = {{2015}}, }