This is an IB Extended Essay on the Global Politics subject. The Research Question is “How has the European Union’s Schengen Agreement been challenged by the Refugee Crisis of 2015?”. This essay scored full marks in 2021.
2. THEORETICAL CONTEXT: LIBERALISM AND REALISM.....................................................................3
3. SCHENGEN AGREEMENT AND CURRENT ATTITUDES OF THE MEMBER STATES TOWARDS IT ........5
5. THE THREAT TO EXTERNAL EU-BORDER STATES. CASE-STUDY GREECE.........................................8
5.1. THE DUBLIN REGULATIONS FAILURE..................................................................................................8
5.2. THE GREEK REFUGEE CRISIS..........................................................................................................10
6. POLARIZED POLICIES IN THE MEMBER STATES............................................................................11
Throughout history, millions of people have moved across the world to escape political
oppression, war, and poverty, reunite with family, or for economic and educational reasons.1
However, in 2015 history repeated its worst –the biggest wave of migration since World War
II- the Refugee Crisis.2 Since the beginning of the Arab Spring in 2011, North Africa, and
especially the Middle East are overwhelmed by terror and violence that peaked in 2015, with
War in Syria being the hot spot of the destabilization.3 The horror of everyday life in the
oppressed territories has turned civilians away from their homes, leaving to seek a better
future elsewhere. And Europe became the main destination for the people seeking refuge.
However, the functioning of the Schengen Agreement is under threat as external and internal
borders are influenced daily. And management of these borders is incoherent due-to lack of
solidarity between the Member States. 4At the same time, it reflects the deep lack of ability of
the European authorities to introduce coherent policies with the respect to fundamental rights
and individual dignity.The essay will analyse the question of: “How has the European
Union’s Schengen Agreement been challenged by the Refugee Crisis of 2015?”. The Refugee
crisis of 2015 has challenged the Schengen Agreement by polarizing nations into 2
international policies: liberal, calling for further opening and welcoming the millions of
1
Keyword Analysis & Research: Migration crisis definition. (n.d.). Retrieved September 14, 2020, from
https://www.au-e.com/search/migration-crisis-definition
2
75 years of major refugee crises around the world. (n.d.). Retrieved October 04, 2020, from
https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/world/historical-migrant-crisis/
3
Directorate-General for Communication (European Commission). (2019, September 16). Migration and
asylum. Retrieved September 15, 2020, from https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/43aa8096-
d833-11e9-9c4e-01aa75ed71a1/language-en/format-PDF/source-164315333
4
Buttin, T. (2018, April 18). The Schengen crisis: A failure. Retrieved September 01, 2020, from
https://www.thenewfederalist.eu/the-schengen-crisis-a-failure?lang=fr
, Page 3
refugees as a response to the humanitarian crisis; and realist, such as the Visegrád group, who
continue to reintroduce border controls for national sake – the two perspectives and initial
lack of support to the External-border states cause a collapse of mutual trust and compliance,
which are the foundation of the European Union and the Schengen Agreement. Now, the
Schengen is “partly in coma” (Jean Claude Junker, 2015) due-to unwillingness to cooperate
and share responsibility. 5 Together with right-wing populists and the threat of extremism, the
crisis can lead to the collapse of the Schengen Agreement. 6 The consequences may be
detrimental up to the loss of economic freedom and freedom of movement for every
European citizen.
2. Theoretical context: Liberalism and Realism
Events of the last 100 years have led the world to come closer and use the power of many as a
part of new political theory of liberalism to escape war, struggle, and death of the previous
years. 7 At the beginning of the 20th century, liberalism appeared with its main thesis:
convergence of states interests, foreign policy in agreement with moral values, international
law as the most effective instrument of peace, and international organizations as the main
instrument of stabilization. To manage these complex ideas states have come together in
implementing a mechanism of World Governance. This movement is a part of liberal political
prism, which drives together diverse actors and range of organizations as intermediary bodies
to bring collective actions. These ideas are claiming that a more interdependent world will
5
June, W. (n.d.). Schengen in permanent crisis: Will the EU's 'coma patient' ever awake again? Retrieved
July 24, 2020, from https://www.eyes-on-europe.eu/schengen-crisis/
6
Adler, K. (2018, June 27). Europe's migration crisis: Could it finish the EU? Retrieved August 15, 2020,
from https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-4463247
7
Heywood, A. (2014). Global politics. Houndmills, Basingstoke Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan.
, Page 4
lead to peace. 8
The only example of a world governance— the closest thing to liberalism the world has ever
seen is the EU. 9 EU springs from the idea of interdependence. Being a supranational
institution, it involves multiple governmental and non-governmental bodies to articulate
public interests and of the EU community as a whole. Member states take on collective
decisions on matters that will affect each country’s citizens; use different institutional
frameworks and decision-making mechanisms in areas such as Eurozone, foreign policy,
justice, and freedom of movement as a part of the Schengen Agreement. Compliance and
trust are the foundation of supranational organization EU, therefore states actions have to be
coherent and approved by the Union. 10 By signing membership in the Schengen Agreement,
countries have given up part of their sovereign rights to the European Council, such as the
existence of border checks, national entry conditions, or visa requirements. Europe, however,
is an exception and much of the world is far from international rules and interdependent
norms. 11
Realists, such as Loriaux, on the other hand, come to say that “The commitment to European
Union is an affair of realist prudence born of skepticism” (Loriaux,1999), mainly meaning
that the EU ideal is unreal. Realists of international politics assume that states are the main
actors in the international system.12 Realists believe in few core tenets: anarchic structure of
the world order, nation states as the primary actor and self-help and survival as the primary
8
Wonicki, R. (1970, January 01). Political Idealism. Retrieved September 18, 2020, from
https://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007/978-1-4020-9160-5_767
9
Heywood, A. (2014). Global politics. Houndmills, Basingstoke Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan.
10
Heywood, A. (2014). Global politics. Houndmills, Basingstoke Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan.
11
Anonymous. (2016, December 06). Schengen Area. Retrieved September 17, 2020, from
https://ec.europa.eu/home-affairs/what-we-do/policies/borders-and-visas/schengen_en
12
Rynning, S. (2015, January). Return of the jedi : Realism and the study of the european union. Retrieved
September 05, 2020, from https://www.cairn.info/revue-politique-europeenne-2005-3-page-10.htm
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