Trafficking the union : (dis)locating the political in European Integration Theory
Date
2000
Authors
Kells, Robin Stacey
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
This thesis argues that dominant European integration theory's definition of the political limits our understanding of complex social policy and issues that arise in and around the European Union (EU). Due to its state-centric, rational, utility-maximising foundation, if used exclusively, integration theory tends to push to the margins concepts/issues such as gender, ethnicity, class, et cetera.
A discursive examination of the EU's policy environment on the trafficking of women reveals that studying the policy process through integration theory alone would not address the conditions of possibility for coordinated member state action on the issue. Namely, trafficking is approached in the EU policy environment as a matter of illegal migration where suggested remedies are stricter penalization, tougher immigration laws and more effective prosecution of traffickers. This approach involves several assumptions about the nature of trafficking and its causes. Trafficked women are rendered powerless and voiceless by their characterisation as naive victims. By focusing on trafficking as the core problem, rather than a symptom of larger structural problems, this approach deflects attention away from the root causes of trafficking such as the vulnerable positions of women due to general financial, social and legal insecurity of trafficked women in their states of origin.
An approach centred solely on integration theory would not allow such observations to come to the fore as it would be concerned with external dimensions of the policy process such as gains or losses of relative power of the actors and institutions involved. A network model of integration theory is advocated as an alternative which focuses on the fluidity of functional and regional connections among units or actors, thus de-centring the traditional role of the state. Political legitimacy is grounded instead in participation of those people and relations in decision-making where multiple identities are emphasised.