Table Of ContentEthico-political
Governmentality
of Immigration
and Asylum
The Case
of Ethiopia
dilek karal
Ethico-political Governmentality of Immigration
and Asylum
Dilek Karal
Ethico-political
Governmentality
of Immigration
and Asylum
The Case of Ethiopia
Dilek Karal
Bir Dünya Çocuk Derneği
Gaziantep, Turkey
ISBN 978-3-030-00195-7 ISBN 978-3-030-00196-4 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-00196-4
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For my lovely family:
Erdem and Bahar
P
reface
At the beginning of this book, having immigration and asylum literature
in mind, our age’s international humanitarian response and political
approaches to mass displacement of people in the recent decades forced
me to reconsider power and liberal ethics in today’s policymaking when
human tragedy turned into an everyday reality. Liberal understanding of
equality had two consequences (the principle of double effect), differenti-
ating between obeying, deserving ones and the others. The refugee as the
stranger/outcast belonging to no nation did not have a solid place in this
picture. Instead of authentic solutions, policies developed normative
approach to refugee flows. I chose to develop my research on Ethiopia,
which was the biggest host in Africa during my three-year stay there
between 2012 and 2015. Although hosting thousands, the country had
such a small place in immigration and asylum literature. Unfortunately, I
also witnessed that my home country, Turkey, became the biggest host in
the world due to ongoing civil war in Syria—proving once more that
immigration and asylum is an issue crosscutting geographies and borders.
This book attempts to question the immigration and asylum policies
that were underlining the importance of teaching the refugee how to fish,
to feed him for a lifetime instead of giving him a fish. What is understated
in this formula is that the refugee was already in a stormy sea, fighting with
multiple issues falling apart from liberal ideal of democratic citizenship.
This was when humanity washed ashore a thousand times.
vii
viii PREFACE
This book is a modest call for reconsideration of today’s immigration
and asylum policies through the lenses of ethico-political governmentality.
With a reference to Baudrillard: I welcome you to the desert of real. This
is where we might recognize the simulacra of today’s policymaking.
Gaziantep, Turkey Dilek Karal
a
cknowledgments
This book is an outcome of my Ph.D. that I received from Middle East
Technical University, Ankara, Turkey. I would like to thank my advisor
Assist. Prof. Dr. Çagă tay Topal for his encouragement, extensive contribu-
tion, and sincere support throughout writing process of this dissertation.
My major examining committee members Prof. Dr. Helga Rittersberger-
Tılıç and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Tahire Erman’s progressive feedbacks and time are
also much appreciated. I also want to thank my final committee members,
Prof. Dr. Ayhan Kaya and Assist. Prof. Dr. Besim Can Zırh. Special thanks
to Prof. Dr. Ayhan Kaya for encouraging me to publish my dissertation and
supporting me with an endorsement. Sincere thanks to Prof. Dr. Ertugr̆ ul
Gündogă n for heartening me for academia when I was young and reckless.
Thanks to my friend Dr. Gülay Mutlu for her myriad efforts during publish-
ing of my dissertation. I also thank to my editor Mary Al-Sayed at Palgrave
Macmillan for her continuous help through the publishing process of this
book. Without their time and support, this book would not be written.
This book is an appreciation of the three beautiful years I spent in Addis
Ababa, Ethiopia: Ameseginalehu! I would like to thank my friends from
Turkey, the United States, the UK, El Salvador, Mauritius, Ethiopia,
Eritrea, India, Sweden, Denmark, Luxemburg and the numerous African
countries that made an international life quite local for us. I will remember
fun, laughter, tears, love and oms and shantis exchanged between us. I also
want to thank my family and friends that they were there for me every time
I needed them. I will carry your love and inspiration everywhere I go.
Lastly, I appreciate my beloved husband Erdem for his tolerating love and
support in good times and in bad. I thank my lovely daughter Bahar for
ix
x ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
being an infinite spring for us during the winter times of our lives. Love
makes everything easier.
Throughout my study, most of my respondents were Somali migrants—
refugees living in Addis Ababa. I sincerely thank their courage and contri-
bution to my work. Their tough experiences and resilience is worth
attention. Overall, this whole book is a humble attempt to make theirs and
other migrants’ voices heard in today’s noisy international debates.
c
ontents
1 I ntroduction 1
1.1 Power, Governmentality and Ethico-Politics 6
1.2 Analytics of Governmentality 11
1.3 Notes on Methodology 13
References 16
2 Neoliberal Governmentality and Ethico- politics of Power 19
2.1 Significance of Governmentality for Analysis of Global
Policymaking 20
2.2 Governmentality 24
2.3 From Disciplinary Power to Ethico-politics of Power 29
2.3.1 State of Justice and Sovereign Power 30
2.3.2 Administrative State and Disciplinary Power 31
2.3.3 Governmental State and Bio-politics 33
2.3.4 Neoliberal Governmentality, Technologies of Self
and Ethico-politics of Power 37
References 50
3 Ethico-political Governmentality of Global Immigration
and Asylum 53
3.1 Legal Developments on Immigration Policies in the World 54
3.1.1 Development of Laws on Asylum 57
3.1.2 Immigrant, Refugee, Asylum Seeker in Law and
Policy 63
xi
