2015 Avrupa mülteci krizinin incelenmesi: Post-işlevselci bir analiz

In 2015, the EU faced the most severe and intense refugee crisis since the Second World War. As a result, a divided EU emerged, which prevented it from finding a common solution to the refugee problem. Accordingly, the EU started to pursue a policy of externalization in its migration agenda to seek a solution outside its borders. Cooperation processes between the EU and third countries in this case are expressed frequently to define the externalization policy of the EU in the literature. Nevertheless, there is a need to explain the EU's main motivation to externalize the migration issue beyond its borders and outsource the burden of the problem to third countries. For that purpose, this thesis presents an explanation through the post-functionalist theoretical framework by using the concept of "constraining dissensus". It argues that increasing xenophobia among the public opinion and far-right political parties have created a constraining dissensus within and among the EU member states, which has been affected by a shaping context; identity politics. The thesis argues that this dissensus is the driving force behind the EU's externalization-oriented migration agenda and it offers an analysis of public opinion surveys, particularly the European Commission's Eurobarometer data, and official EU documents with regard to the EU-Turkey cooperation process, to provide an explanation of the EU's externalization policy during the refugee crisis of 2015. In the time of constraining dissensus, the EU believes that the externalization-oriented migration policy is the most convenient path to rely on.