IDENTITATE, EDUCAȚIE ȘI INCLUZIUNE, pages: 175 - 191, 2026

The Role of Border Management in the Process of Migration Management at the EU’s South Eastern Borders

Doi: https://doi.org/10.58603/ENJW6572

Rezumat: The issue of migration goes beyond geographical, economic and legal approaches. If we intend to treat the phenomenon from a specific point of view, we will find ambiguities and uncertainties regarding the role of states and the functioning of some institutions in the process of migration management.
The European Union’s South Eastern border region, and bordering countries are representing a so-called epicenter of the migration process. Basically, it is one of the main migration routes, also called the Western Balkan track, used by thousands of migrants and refugees on their way to the EU member states.
Managing borders and the migration management in the EU and in the neighboring countries is a social and economic investment that enables societies to strengthen their cohesion and resilience and become more prosperous. It can be considered also a societal process in which the responsibility does not rest with a specific group, but with several. The study aims to realize an inventory of the general trends and evolutions from the past decade, regarding the perception of the border in the South East European space, but also focuses on the process of migration management which had an impact on transnational institution building.
One of our research hypotheses is represented by the fact that cooperation between states in the field of border management play an important role in the process of migrant management. Transnational cooperation and partnerships between institutions can carry out valuable work by providing guidance and support in this process.
A second hypothesis that we want to test starts from the idea that the creation of certain transnational institutions in the field of migration management, working on the ground can play a more efficient role in monitoring the implementation and the impact of new policies and initiatives.
The present research is intended to be an analysis through which we would like to emphasize the lack of interaction between neighboring states border authorities at different levels in migration management at the South Eastern borders of the European Union.