Borders under siege: the weaponization of migration in the Polish-Belarusian crisis from 2021 to 2024 : master's thesis

Kowzan, Zuzanna (author), Prezelj, Iztok (mentor), Ristevska, Teodora Tea (comentor)

This master’s thesis examines the weaponization of migration during the Polish-Belarusian border crisis (2021-2024) and its impact on European security governance. The research addresses the question of how Belarus deliberately manipulated migration flows as part of a strategy of hybrid warfare, how Poland and the EU responded, and what these dynamics reveal about the securitisation of migration in contemporary Europe. This study analyses the crisis through three interlinked theoretical lenses: Greenhill’s forced migration framework, hybrid warfare theory, and securitisation theory. Together, these approaches allow for a multi-level assessment of intentionality, strategic context, and discursive construction. A qualitative research design is used, based on a document analysis of academic literature, legal acts, reports by non-governmental organisations and media, and open research by Belarusian exile officials. The findings show that Belarus orchestrated the migrant flows through visas, flights, and logistical facilitation, and embedded them in a broad disinformation and pressure campaign. Poland’s response in the form of emergency laws, military operations and pushback was a prime example of securitisation, legitimised by a prominent level of acceptance among the population. At EU level, the crisis accelerated legal experimentation and reinforced the shift towards “crisis management,” which prioritises flexibility over harmonisation in asylum policy. However, this normalisation of exceptional measures risks undermining the Common European Asylum System and undermining the normative credibility of the Union. The thesis concludes that the border crisis shows how migration can be used both as a material tactic and a discursive tool, as illustrated by the Polish–Belarusian case.

• Language: English
• Keywords: hybrid warfare, European Union border governance, Polish-Belarusian border crisis, weaponization of migration, crisis governance
• Work type: Master's thesis/paper
• Typology: 2.09 - Master's Thesis
• Organization: FDV - Faculty of Social Sciences
• Place of publishing: Ljubljana
• Publisher: Z. Kowzan
• Year: 2025
• Number of pages: 1 spletni vir (1 datoteka PDF (73 str.))
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-176295
• UDC: 355.4(043.2)
• COBISS.SI-ID: 259106051
• Publication date in RUL: 27.11.2025

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Title: Meje pod pritiskom: instrumentalizacija migracij v poljsko-beloruski krizi (2021–2024) : magistrsko delo

Abstract

Magistrsko delo preučuje instrumentalizacijo migracij med poljsko-belorusko mejno krizo (2021–2024) ter njen vpliv na evropsko varnostno upravljanje. Raziskava odgovarja na vprašanje, kako je Belorusija namerno manipulirala migracijske tokove kot del strategije hibridnega vojskovanja, kako sta se odzvala Poljska in EU ter kaj te dinamike razkrivajo o sekuritizaciji migracij v sodobni Evropi. Krizo analizira skozi tri medsebojno povezane teoretske okvire: Greenhillov okvir prisilnih migracij, teorijo hibridnega vojskovanja in teorijo sekuritizacije. Skupaj ti pristopi omogočajo večnivojsko oceno namernosti, strateškega konteksta in diskurzivne konstrukcije. Uporabljena je kvalitativna raziskovalna zasnova, ki temelji na analizi dokumentov: znanstveni literaturi, pravnih aktih, poročilih nevladnih organizacij in medijev ter odprtih virih in raziskavah beloruskih uradnikov v izgnanstvu. Ugotovitve kažejo, da je Belorusija migracijske tokove orkestrirala prek vizumov, letov in logistične podpore ter jih vgradila v obsežno kampanjo dezinformacij in pritiskov. Odziv Poljske v obliki izredne zakonodaje, vojaških operacij in potiskanj nazaj (t. i. pushbackov) predstavlja značilen primer sekuritizacije, ki ga je legitimirala visoka raven sprejetosti med prebivalstvom. Na ravni EU je kriza pospešila pravne eksperimente in utrdila premik h »kriznemu upravljanju«, ki v azilni politiki daje prednost prožnosti pred usklajenostjo. Vendar pa takšna normalizacija izrednih ukrepov tvega spodkopati Skupni evropski azilni sistem ter načeti normativno verodostojnost Unije. Delo ugotavlja, da migracije služijo tako kot materialna taktika kot diskurzivno orodje, kar najbolje ponazarja poljsko-beloruski primer.

• Keywords: hibridno vojskovanje, upravljanje meja Evropske unije, poljsko-beloruska mejna kriza, instrumentalizacija migracij, krizno upravljanje