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Paper short abstract

This presentation examines how the political construction of instrumentalisation of migration as a hybrid threat not only justifies border closures but entails a shift towards pre-emptive policies, undermining the rule of law and reinforcing authoritarian trends in migration governance.

Paper long abstract

Following the EU–Belarus border crisis since 2021, migration has been increasingly reframed as a hostile act orchestrated by foreign states to undermine national sovereignty and social cohesion. Likewise, Finland closed its border with Russia at the end of 2023 after arrival of 1,300 asylum seekers based on alleged instrumentalisation of migration without further evidence. Based on ongoing research on transformations of border and asylum policies in Finland and the EU, this presentation discusses new framing of migration and its wider implications for migration governance. The instrumentalisation of migration framework established in EU policies intertwines with broader military discussions on hybrid threats, reflecting the changed geopolitical environment. Rather than merely evolving the securitisation of migration characteristic of EU policies for decades, the instrumentalisation of migration implies a transformation of migration governance towards pre-emptive policies. While low-probability, high-impact scenarios justify exceptional measures targeting future possibilities in the present, pre-emptive policies involve a performative logic that brings emergent threats into being irrespective of their actual occurrence. Unlike risks immanent to irregular migration and its organization in the securtisation framework, the instrumentalisation discourse implies exogenous threats attributed to unspecified political purposes of hostile foreign states beyond actual cross-border movements. By affiliating migration with forms of warfare, these new framings entail the militarisation of migration that justify drastic responses and restructuring of border and asylum regimes. In addition to extending authoritarian logics of migration governance, the instrumentalization of hybrid threats supports the wider militarisation of society and the erosion of the rule of law.