Offshore currents: Examining the securitisation and de-securitisation of criminal deportations to Tonga, Samoa and Cook Islands

Abstract

Criminal deportations to the Pacific Islands region from the United Sates, Australia and New Zealand have increased significantly over the last decade. Interrogating criminal deportations to Tonga, Samoa and Cook Islands, this thesis tracks securitisation throughout the deportation process, from the deporting state and society, across the border to the receiving state and society of citizenship. It shows that the deporting and receiving states both have very different ways of undertaking securitisation and de-securitisation, according to their social, cultural, and (post)colonial histories. This thesis makes a theoretical contribution by defining and providing empirical context for reciprocal securitisation by deported people as a simultaneous society, drawing attention to the challenges that deported people face on their return. By examining de-securitisation (both active and passive), it analyses the reintegration models in place to support returning deported people, and the discourse shaping their return. Deportations have been collectively securitised at the Pacific regional level, enabling an ongoing and pervasive influence on securitisation by deporting states, but also creating an opportunity for Pacific states to use securitisation as a tool of agency and political utility to encourage deporting states to take responsibility for their role in deportations. Securitisation theory was selected on the basis of the large critical security studies scholarship on migration which uses this theory, and the contemporary use of the theory by Pacific scholars to articulate the role of de-securitisation and securitisation as tools of empowerment in the region. Show more