ABSTRACT
This chapter draws upon the preliminary findings of the research project ‘Anti-smuggling Policies and their Intersection with Humanitarian Assistance and Social Trust’, funded by the ESRC/AHRC. It addresses one of the most contested challenges facing irregular immigration policies: their effectiveness. The chapter argues that how effective or ineffective migration control policies are deemed to be is determined by the actor who asks the question – whose effectiveness, and whether an assessment is made in terms of the effects of these policies in the short, medium or long term. It provides some reflections on possible avenues for future research in light of gaps in the scholarly literature. The chapter suggests that the increasing involvement of the EU and its actors in irregular immigration is likely to displace mistrust on the effectiveness of irregular immigration policies from domestic actors towards the EU. It highlights some of the under-researched dimensions of policy ineffectiveness to pose a counter-perspective to the securitization zeitgeist.
