Discretion in European Migration Governance: Vice or Virtue?

The notion of discretion plays a central role in the governance of migration. Yet, when trying to pinpoint how and why it plays such a central role, and also, whether discretion is something to be feared or embraced from the vantage of those subjected to the migration regime, a rather “murky” image arises. Depending on the disciplinary perspective from which discretion is discussed, the way in which discretion is understood differs, which can lead to a rather different take on what discretion is and what it does. Is it to be understood as a concept that inherently embedded within the law, even if it is not explicitly formulated as such? Is it to be understood as autonomous decision-making? And why should we even care about possibly coming to a shared understanding of discretion and how it plays out in law and in practice?

In this online event Jonas Borneman and Lisa Marie Borrelli will be reflecting upon these and other questions while drawing from their legal and empirical work focusing on the European Migration Regime. In so doing, both speakers will also talk about how to research discretion from a more legal or a more socio-legal/ empirical point of view. While being in conversation with each other, the speakers will also actively engage with the online audience. 

The session will be moderated by Maartje van der Woude (Leiden Law School, the Netherlands)

Lisa Marie Borrelli works as Associate Professor at the Institute of Social Work, University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Western Switzerland – HES-SO Valais. Her research interests circle around migration studies and the socio-legal aspects of state control, as well as social policies and the study of poverty. She takes a specific interest on how noncitizens’ rights are restricted by states in the fields of migration law, welfare policies and public administration, which she studies through an ethnographic approach and qualitative methodologies. Starting in 2023 she directs the project ‘Tracing Syrian refugee return dynamics across South/North Divides: The interrelatedness of European repatriation decisions and regional (non-) refoulement’ (funded by the Swiss Network for International Studies). 

Jonas Bornemann works as a postdoctoral researcher at the Centre de droit comparé, européen et international at Université de Lausanne and the HES-SO Valais-Wallis as well as a postdoctoral fellow of the nccr – on the move. He publishes predominantly on EU constitutional, administrative and migration law. Previously, Jonas worked as a doctoral researcher at the University of Konstanz and as a legal trainee at the Odysseus Network for Legal Studies on Immigration and Asylum in Europe.