Manja Petrosvka researches the role of one of the EU’s main implementing partners in the process of border externalisation: the International Organisation for Migration (IOM). Over the last decade, IOM’s role has become increasingly prominent in the so-called ‘Western Balkans’, a collection of six states bordering the EU that are striving for bloc membership. Due to its geographic position as one of the main migratory routes to the EU, the ‘Western Balkans’ have become a priority in the EU’s geopolitical deterrence agenda. This project aims to examine whether the IOM acts on behalf of the EU in the Western Balkans as ‘quasi-governmental’ and ‘quasi-EU-ropean’ actor tasked with coordinating the EU’s migration control agenda across the region.”
