About irregular immigration as a security threat and its new dimension as an instrument of political pressure: The case of Morocco

Abstract

Traditionally, the phenomenon of irregular immigration has been seen by states as a manifestation of international organised crime, and even in some aspects with certain traits of independence, with the immigrant assuming the role of a threat to the state itself. However, although this is not a new phenomenon, in recent times a recourse to migratory flows as mechanisms of political pressure by third states has been observed. The cases of Belarus and especially Morocco also demonstrate a lack of a common European foreign policy, affecting European values themselves, and which seems to respond to economic but also geostrategic and political issues.