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Blurred Accountability in European Border Management

Haas, Anna LU (2015) STVM23 20151
Department 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:
author
Haas, Anna LU
supervisor
organization
course
STVM23 20151
year
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}},
}