The role of external actors in the securitisation of asylum and migration in the EU and their impacts on the EU's normative power

The European Union's prominence in international relations with its unique structure has been associated with the concept of normative power. This thesis examines the change in a normative power of the EU by focusing on the policies of securitization of migration and externalization of migration management within the scope of cooperation with third countries. Thesis presents three different case studies by examining normativity through the Mobility Partnership between the EU and Morocco, the Memorandum of Understanding between Italy and Libya, and the readmission agreement and statement between Turkey and the EU. These cases are analyzed with the explaining outcome process-tracing method, one of the qualitative research methods. This study shows that the EU's securitization and externalization policies give third countries bargaining power and political maneuverability, and as a result, the EU takes more protective border measures in migration management with third countries and underestimates the human rights dimension of migration, thus a cyclical securitization is formed by moving away from its normative power. Keywords: European Union, Normative Power, Securitization, Externalization, Migration Management