Rethinking Security in the Age of Migration: Trust and Emancipation in Europe .

• Author: Tabur, Canan Ezel
• Position: Book review

Rethinking Security in the Age of Migration

Trust and Emancipation in Europe

By Ali Bilgic

Abingdon and New York: Routledge, 2013, 210 pages, $140.00, ISBN 9780415694193.

In recent years, limited legal channels for migrants seeking protection in Europe, predominantly originating from Africa, has been a compelling problem in view of the exceedingly tragic incidents along the Southern sea borders of the EU. Likewise, the perceived security threat in the EU vis-a-vis irregular migration has been gradually problematized. Rethinking Security in the Age of Migration: Trust and Emancipation in Europe tackles the European security dilemma pertaining to irregular migrants pursuing protection in Europe while being perceived as a threat to security. Bilgic specifically looks at the case of irregular migrants coming from Sub-Saharan Africa, who are identified as irregular migrants yet in need of protection. The book contributes to the extant literature on the subject matter by essentially examining 'emancipatory security theory' and the principle of 'trust-building' between receiving communities and irregular migrants. As such, this book is a valuable input to the recent series assembled by Routledge on the global politics of migration, using emancipation theory in the quest for practices that transform perceptions and make both irregular migrants and receiving communities feel 'secure.'

The book is divided into three main parts. The first part deals with the perspective of EU citizens on irregular migration and how the topic is framed as a security issue. This part also depicts specific insecurities faced by irregular migrants. In the second part, the author validly argues that "language" is one of the dimensions of emancipation that should be tackled. Therefore, he claims that it is needed to challenge the existing "conceptual tools provided by traditional approaches to involuntary migration" (p. 37). Instead of referring to them as irregular migrants, Bilgic proposes the term 'protection seeker' for migrants in need of political and economic security. The theoretical framework is established based on the new security dilemma framework of Booth and Wheeler. Bilgic presents how the concept of 'trust-learning' (as an alternative to exclusion or fear) is operationalized in emancipatory security analysis. The second part lastly focuses on the specific case of the European migration security dilemma. The empirical part is mainly dealt with in the third...