Off the Map: Climate as a New Security Border in the EU, USA, India, & Australia

My thesis examines the variance in security policies on climate displacement among the EU, USA, India, & Australia. It provides evidence that climate refugees were securitized within climate and migration legislation at the international, regional, and national stages. The securitization process itself varied and ranged from framing climate refugees as traditional state security threats to risk management measures. I designed a securitization framework, conducted expert interviews and utilized computational network tools to identify and evaluate the factors explaining these variations.

Key findings show that the EU has a traditional threat-multiplier approach and adopts a dualistic development/deterrence strategy exclusive of climate displaced populations. Although the US has a similar approach to climate migration flows, the policy outcomes are inclusive and include military preparedness for disaster operations, temporary protection status, and internal planned relocations. In India, there is a near total absence of securitization, and the outcomes are broadly inclusive but lack any standardized framework to manage migration flows. Australia is considered a leader in the refugee race to the bottom as well as in climate action, but employs a relatively inclusive policy when it comes to climate displacement in the pacific through its labor mobility schemes.

Four main policy outcomes were identified in my dissertation. These include deterrence, humanitarian & economic, legal protection/pathways, and planned relocations, demonstrating varying degrees of inclusivity and exclusion across the case studies. These categories broadly suggest two emerging policy regimes on climate displacement. The first is a process of ecobordering through climate nativism and anti-immigration in the US and EU. The second relates to the emergence of climate mobility and environmental regimes to de-exceptionalize movements related to climate across all four case studies.

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