Cathrine Talleraas
Senior Researcher, CMITalleraas' work focuses on migration governance and politics, the links between migration and development.
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A joint initiative between the University of Bergen
and CMI – Chr. Michelsen Institute
The impact of EU external migration policies on West Africa
27.05.2025
09:00 - 10:00English
How do EU external migration policies shape mobility, governance, and development across West Africa?
Over the past decade, the European Union has increasingly relied on externalisation strategies to manage migration. By cooperating with African states to control mobility beyond European borders, the EU seeks to influence migration dynamics far from its territory
This breakfast seminar explores the consequences of such external migration policies in West Africa, with particular focus on how they impact migration routes, local governance, and the use of development aid as a tool for migration control.
Based on insights from the EFFEXT project at CMI, the event will examine how EU-funded measures shape both policy and daily life in countries like Ghana and Senegal. It will also reflect on Norway’s development cooperation in this context, and how local actors respond to and reinterpret European messages about migration.
One of the speakers will focus on the Senegalese concept of “Barça ou Barzakh?” (Barcelona or the afterlife), a phrase that encapsulates the desperation and hope that drive young people to migrate — even at great risk. This expression offers a powerful lens to understand how externalisation policies interact with local imaginaries, aspirations, and lived realities.
The event brings together perspectives from academic research and lived experience to shed light on how migration is managed, contested, and imagined across borders.
Event info.
Bergen GlobalJekteviksbakken 31, Bergen
27.05.2025
09:00 - 10:00
English
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Elling N. Tjønneland
Senior Researcher, CMIPolitical scientist focusing on development and development assistance, rising powers and African development and a strong emphasis on South Africa and Southern Africa.
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Ndeye Fatou Ndiaye
Student, Complutense University of Madrid / UiBNdeye Fatou Ndiaye is a student of Law and Political Science currently on exchange at the University of Bergen.
Read moreCathrine Talleraas
Senior Researcher, CMI
Talleraas' work focuses on migration governance and politics, the links between migration and development.
She holds a PhD in Human Geography from the University of Oslo (2020), an MSc in Migration Studies from the University of Oxford, and an MA in Human Geography from the University of Oslo. In her PhD research, Talleraas studied how state institutions engage with people who lead transnational lives.
Elling N. Tjønneland
Senior Researcher, CMI
Political scientist focusing on development and development assistance, rising powers and African development and a strong emphasis on South Africa and Southern Africa.
Tjønneland is a political scientist with more than 30 years of experience focusing on a range of development issues and development aid and with a strong geographical focus on Africa, South Africa and Southern Africa. He has led numerous international assessment and evaluation teams commissioned by a range of Norwegian, international and African institutions.
He has field experience from many countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America. This includes Angola, Botswana, Cambodia, China, Cote d’Ivoire, Djibouti, Ecuador, Ethiopia, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Lesotho, Malaysia, Malawi, Mocambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Palestine, Rwanda, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Sri Lanka, Swaziland, Tanzania, Thailand, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Ndeye Fatou Ndiaye
Student, Complutense University of Madrid / UiB
Ndeye Fatou Ndiaye is a student of Law and Political Science currently on exchange at the University of Bergen.
Bergen Global is a joint initiative between the University of Bergen and Chr. Michelsen Institute that addresses global challenges.
