Thesis
Legitimising migration control: Italy-Libya cooperation
- Abstract:
-
This thesis is concerned with Italy-Libya outsourcing of migration control, a topic approached through the lens of legitimacy. It aims to unpack this relationship between Italy and Libya, by focusing on Italy’s support for the Libyan Coast Guard, who is tasked with finding migrant boats at sea, and holding them in detention facilities, who are rife with well-documented human rights abuses. Through the case of Italy, I delve into the process through which these policies of border control are legitimised. I conceptualise government appeals and public understandings of legitimacy across three major axes: a form of moral legitimacy, based on their moral values; legal legitimacy, based on their understanding of adherence to national and supranational laws; and political legitimacy, understood in broad terms as the procedural and discursive elements that give legitimacy to the ‘will of the people’.
The thesis posits three main contributions to the literature on outsourcing. First, through focus group discussions with members of the engaged public, the thesis explores public understandings of the policy as legitimate through a novel form of empirical research. This is then put in conversation with government discourses on the policy. Second, I focus on the distinctiveness of the Italian case, because of its geographical position, fractured national identity, and specific past. Through the development of racialised us-and-them dichotomy, played out at the border, I contend that incoming immigration has been utilised as a tool for nation- and identity-building. Third, I pay particular attention to Italy’s colonial past, and how coloniality affects people’s perception of migration control policy. I contend that the role of the politics of forgotten memory on Italy’s colonial responsibility is essential to understand how this form of outsourcing is legitimised today.
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Authors
Contributors
+ Gibney, M
- Institution:
- University of Oxford
- Division:
- SSD
- Department:
- International Development
- Oxford college:
- Linacre College
- Role:
- Supervisor
+ Scott-Smith, T
- Institution:
- University of Oxford
- Division:
- SSD
- Department:
- International Development
- Oxford college:
- St Cross College
- Role:
- Supervisor
- ORCID:
- 0000-0003-1483-5925
+ Fondazione Luigi Einaudi
More from this funder
- Funder identifier:
- https://ror.org/00nkq8a05
- Programme:
- Luigi Achilli
+ Graduate Women International
More from this funder
- Funder identifier:
- https://ror.org/024zavn56
- Programme:
- Recognition Award
- DOI:
- Type of award:
- DPhil
- Awarding institution:
- University of Oxford
- Language:
-
English
- Keywords:
- Subjects:
- Deposit date:
-
2026-05-12
- ARK identifier:
Terms of use
- Copyright holder:
- Diana Volpe
- Copyright date:
- 2025
- Notes:
- This thesis represents the author’s doctoral research submitted to the University of Oxford. It is a preliminary academic work and may differ substantially from future publications derived from it. Portions of this work are expected to be revised and developed into peer-reviewed articles and/or a monograph.
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