The entangled geographies of responsibility: Contested policy narratives of migration governance along the Balkan Route

Abstract

This article examines some of the contested geographical imaginaries of the so-called “Balkan Route” as part of the wider Mediterranean migration complex. More specifically, we interrogate how such varied imaginaries of the Route contribute to shaping conflicting geographies of responsibility for migration in the region among a shifting set of international and state actors. We highlight how the attribution of responsibility for the governance of migration is shaped by numerous geographical and historical entanglements, including on-going processes of post-conflict state-making and the geopolitics of European Union accession, with migrants becoming pawns in the negotiation of preferential relations between the countries of the region and the European Union. Focusing in particular on the framing of migration policy responses along the Croatia–Bosnia and Italy–Slovenia sections of the Route, we examine the perspectives of both policy-makers and solidarity networks active in the area, noting how their divergent narratives contribute to the proliferation of conflicting formal and informal practices of border control.

The Bosnian House: Trajectories of (Non‐)Return Among Bosnian Roma in a Roman Shanty

“…In Tuzla, the advent of the market economy materialized in the opening of shiny malls ("like in America," the Xomá comment) and chains such as Bingo and Konsum, the flourishing of the tourism industry and the arrival of big and small foreign investorsincluding members of the diaspora based abroad (Forti, 2021; see also Halilovich & Efendić, 2019). However not all former inhabitants returned after the end of the hostilities, and the policy of majority returns and the contemporary flows of transnational migration (Bergesio & Bialasiewicz, 2023) contributed to the area's demographic reshuffling. It is worth also mentioning the impacts of "foreign proselytizing and Islamic activism" (Hesová & Rašidagić, 2020, p. 721) from Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey.…”