Floodgate politics: Europe’s externalisation policies and Turkey’s response

Abstract

Turkey sits at the axis of long-standing externalisation policies of the Global North and the West and Europe’s so-called ‘periphery’. Since 2015, it has played a particularly active role in resisting and leveraging its political power in response to the European Union’s refugee externalisation policies. This chapter examines the impact of the European Union’s externalisation policies on Turkey, and, in turn, Turkey’s response. The chapter shows how Turkey, using the notion of ‘floodgates’ as political leverage, capitalises on migration diplomacy gaining financial benefits and political leverage. This study demonstrates the heterogeneous nature of externalisation processes and the way they shape and transform geopolitical relationships. Conceptual tools to delineate the constitutive role of externalisation’s gatekeepers are needed. © 2023 selection and editorial matter, Azadeh Dastyari, Amy Nethery and Asher Hirsch; individual chapters, the contributors.