The Institute for Diplomacy and International Governance (IDIG) at Loughborough University London, in partnership with The Centre for the Study of International Governance (CSIG) at Loughborough University (Midlands) will host a public lecture by Dr. Ali Bilgic.

Dr Bilgic is Lecturer in Politics and International Relations at Loughborough University and Prince Claus Chair in Development and Equity (2017-2019) at the International Institute of Social Studies, Erasmus University Rotterdam. The lecture will begin at 5pm BST and last one hour.

The migration pattern that has emerged in the Euro-Mediterranean migration system since 2011 is often identified by European actors as a ‘border’ and/or ‘humanitarian’ crisis. These identifications reflect a Euro-centric perspective that constructs human mobility as a ‘problem’. In contrast, Bilgic analyses human mobility as a way to problematise European political community, and articulates ‘human security’ as a way to imagine a different political community in the Euro-Mediterranean region.

Dr Bilgic’s analysis will begin with an examination of the external and internal reasons of ‘the crisis’ and discuss why, in spite of the physical and structural violence inflected on both migrants and European citizens, the EU/ropean border regime is persistent. Dr Bilgic does this by investigating the regime’s ideological and economic foundations. Dr Bilgic then explores why a human security perspective can be a principled and practical alternative to a status quo that dichotomises the human security of migrants and European citizens. It will be argued that human security enables us to develop a truly migrant-centred approach that is necessary for promoting the human security of European citizens. The discussion concludes with a presentation of policy options underlined by human security as a way to construct a different European political community.