Cetta Mainwaring, At Europe’s Edge: Migration and Crisis in the Mediterranean
| Date | 01 April 2022 |
| Published date | 01 April 2022 |
| DOI | 10.1177/1462474520980651 |
| Author | Sanja Milivojevic |
| Subject Matter | Book reviews |
from which this and other analyses—not to mention policy debates—might be propelled.
It is recommended for academic, activist, political, and lay audiences alike.
ORCID iD
Michael Gibson-Light https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2445-2389
Michael Gibson-Light
University of Denver, USA
Cetta Mainwaring, At Europe’s Edge: Migration and Crisis in the
Mediterranean, Oxford University Press: Oxford, 2019; 240 pp.: ISBN
9780198842514, £60.00 (hbk)
The Mediterranean Sea has been the deadliest region for migrants in the world for almost
a decade. As a death toll rises, people have increasingly turned into numbers, while pol-
icymakers, the international community, government agencies, and politicians use the
statistics to promulgate their agendas. The response by the EU and its member states
remains patchy at best, or, as many would argue, hypocritical and unhelpful.
Academics from a range of disciplines in the Global North and the Global South have
been exploring the crisis and its responses, using a range of critical lenses: death at the
border (Pécoud, 2020), border control and management (Jumbert, 2018), “humanitarian”
or “rescue”response (Esperti, 2020), gender and migration (Freedman, 2016), surveil-
lance and border security technologies (Dijstelbloem, 2015), border externalisation and
out-sourcing of border control (Demmelhuber, 2011), and border spectacle (De
Genova, 2013). Yet, inquires that look at the context of border management in the
Mediterranean from the perspective of “small”EU states that are currently at the forefront
of Fortress Europe –such as Malta, Cyprus, or Portugal - are not that common. This book
is a timely contribution that aims to fill this gap.
Over six chapters, Cetta Mainwaring takes us on a journey less travelled. She skilfully
investigates three critical points in the context of Malta and a broader EU migration and
mobility policy:
•why the EU continues to prioritise the fortification of its external borders as a preferred
migration governance strategy
•why migrants continue to cross the Mediterranean and die at sea in increasing numbers
•how EU states in the south, at Europe’s edge, respond to their new role as EU migra-
tion and mobility gatekeepers
The book offers rich theoretical insights and analysis that sheds light on the origins,
key processes, and ideology that underpins such practices, by looking at a range of
issues pertinent to mobility, border control, asylum, human rights, and deaths at the
border in this under-researched region.
Book Reviews 289
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