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Containment as Development: Hilfswerk International’s Discursive Legitimation of Border Externalisation in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Western Balkans

Peltoranta, Miriam LU (2026) SIMZ31 20261
Master of Science in Development Studies
Abstract (Swedish)
This thesis analyses how the Austrian humanitarian and developmental organisation Hilfswerk
International discursively legitimates its involvement in border externalisation and containment
practices in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Western Balkans. Whilst previous scholarship has
thematised the confluence of humanitarian principles, borderwork, and “migration management”,
insufficient attention has been directed towards the instrumentalisation of development discourse
for such justifications. Drawing on a theoretical framework grounded in Foucauldian modalities
of power, the research further endeavours to map the organisation within its politically embedded
networks of implementation, addressing issues relating to agency, lack of... (More)
This thesis analyses how the Austrian humanitarian and developmental organisation Hilfswerk
International discursively legitimates its involvement in border externalisation and containment
practices in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Western Balkans. Whilst previous scholarship has
thematised the confluence of humanitarian principles, borderwork, and “migration management”,
insufficient attention has been directed towards the instrumentalisation of development discourse
for such justifications. Drawing on a theoretical framework grounded in Foucauldian modalities
of power, the research further endeavours to map the organisation within its politically embedded
networks of implementation, addressing issues relating to agency, lack of accountability, and
opacity intrinsic to the practices of border externalisation. Through a critical discourse analysis,
this thesis thus argues that the rhetoric of modernisation, technicalisation, depoliticisation, and
humaneness is used to legitimate the organisation’s role and obscure the responsibility of state
actors, thus ultimately reinforcing the EU’s border regime by facilitating and sanitising violent
measures and exclusionary practices. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Peltoranta, Miriam LU
supervisor
organization
course
SIMZ31 20261
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
keywords
Border externalisation, NGO, Migration Management, Developmental Borderwork, Discursive Legitimation
language
English
id
9239450
date added to LUP
2026-06-25 10:27:25
date last changed
2026-06-25 10:27:25
@misc{9239450,
  abstract     = {{This thesis analyses how the Austrian humanitarian and developmental organisation Hilfswerk
International discursively legitimates its involvement in border externalisation and containment
practices in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Western Balkans. Whilst previous scholarship has
thematised the confluence of humanitarian principles, borderwork, and “migration management”,
insufficient attention has been directed towards the instrumentalisation of development discourse
for such justifications. Drawing on a theoretical framework grounded in Foucauldian modalities
of power, the research further endeavours to map the organisation within its politically embedded
networks of implementation, addressing issues relating to agency, lack of accountability, and
opacity intrinsic to the practices of border externalisation. Through a critical discourse analysis,
this thesis thus argues that the rhetoric of modernisation, technicalisation, depoliticisation, and
humaneness is used to legitimate the organisation’s role and obscure the responsibility of state
actors, thus ultimately reinforcing the EU’s border regime by facilitating and sanitising violent
measures and exclusionary practices.}},
  author       = {{Peltoranta, Miriam}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Containment as Development: Hilfswerk International’s Discursive Legitimation of Border Externalisation in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Western Balkans}},
  year         = {{2026}},
}