Work

The harms of anti-smuggling narratives and legislation on migrants: a comparative study of Italy and the UK

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: This article investigates how anti-smuggling political narratives and legislation in Italy and the UK are used to justify institutionalised harm on migrants, using thematic analysis of legislation, NGOs’ reports, press, and social media coverage on migration and smuggling in the last two years (2022–2024). Through a comparative study of Italy as a longstanding EU internal border, and the UK as a new EU external border, this article will show how discourses of exceptionalism, securitisation, and externalisation of borders are used to justify the infliction of harms on migrants in the context of a trend of an increasingly violent hostile environment and spectacle of borders of the European neoliberal democracies.

Source: Justice, power and resistance

DOI: 10.1332/26352338y2025d000000034

Author: Ilaria Aversa

Institution: University of Kent

Language: English

Topic: Gender and Women's Rights

Subfield: Political Science and International Relations

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDG: Peace, justice, and strong institutions

Open Access status: hybrid

Funder: University of Kent