Australiens Båtmigranter i Offshore Flyktingförvar - ett kritiskt rumsligt perspektiv på Operation Sovereign Borders

Sammanfattning: The Australian immigration policy Operation Sovereign Borders is based on categorically denying access to Australia for boat migrants and instead detaining them in offshore processing on the islands Manus and Nauru. The policy has both been criticized by human rights organizations and seen as an inspiration for other countries. This essay looks into how the Australian state legitimizes this policy through Carol Bacchi's WPR-method. We argue that this is done by creating space, and therefore examine the legitimation through Henri Lefebvre’s theory: The Production of Space. The findings of this essay derive a focus from the Australian state on criminalizing boat migration. By doing so and therefore painting migrants as a security threat they legitimize confining them to offshore detention. The discourse of the legitimation presents a reductionist approach to space whilst the application of theory reads it as a social construct shaped by the power of the state.