Antoine Vauchez: Beyond EU Exceptionalism: Digging into Europe’s Mobility Archive . [Abstract]

This postface examines the crisis of free movement of people in the European Union by challenging the long-held view of “EU exceptionalism” in this field. While free movement has long been presented as a fundamental and distinctive pillar of the European project, the last decade has witnessed a multiplication of border controls and mobility restrictions. In light of the papers brought together by the Symposium, it appears clearly that the current crisis cannot be reduced to a mere “backlash.” By exploring the rich European Archive (in the Foucault sense) of mobility regimes, it reveals that the EU’s free movement regime was never entirely novel, perfectly coherent, or unconditional. Rather, it is part of a long tradition of differentiated mobility management, marked by colonial continuities, national exceptions, and social hierarchies. The paper concludes by praising the added value of the volume which enables a rethinking of European mobility governmentality beyond teleological integration narratives. It highlights the multiple technologies of government, actors, and practices that contribute to producing, framing, and hierarchizing mobilities within the European space.

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