Security Representations in Environmental Migration Policy : A Policy Analysis on Environmental Migration Policy in Central America from a Human and State Security Perspective

Sammanfattning: The main objective of this study is to analyse problem representations within national and multilateral policy concerning environmental migration in Central America. The study mainly focuses on Mexico and Costa Rica’s national legal frameworks regarding environmental migration but also draws on bilateral as well as multilateral agreements ratified by the countries. In a two-step analysis, the perspectives of human security and state security are used to identify key representations, followed by an application of Bacchi’s (2016) post-structural policy analysis tool ‘What is the problem represented to be?’, allowing for an understanding of environmental migration policy in a wider context. The results of the study show how human security characteristics are most prevalent within environmental migration policy, albeit acknowledging the implicit prevalence of state security characteristics. The study makes attributions to the understanding of the discourse and conceptualisation concerning environmental migration and recommends further studies on efficient interlinkages between human and state security-oriented policies.