ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the interlocked destinies of migration and development in EU–Africa relations over time. The nature of inter-regional migration between the EU and Africa has been the centrepiece of the developmental stride across the Mediterranean Sea. This historical reality appears to have informed the state-centric restrictive migration regulations as expressed in the EU-externalization of its boundaries to Africa at the turn of the twenty-first century. While studies have documented the unpleasant implications of the scenario, especially as it concerns human rights violations, the study of transborder migration as an engine of intra-regional and inter-regional mutual development within the framework of EU-Africa relations is rare. This chapter examines the trends, challenges, and prospects of EU-Africa relations in the context of the migration-development nexus. Underpinned by the constructivist paradigm, borderlands, and the world system theories, the approach is qualitative, based on the content and context analysis of government records, media reports, interviews and the extant literature. It concludes with a proposal for a new dialogue on the grey areas of the inter-regional collaboration in the global world system.
