Fanning Fears, winning Praise: Egypt’s Smart Play on Europe’s Apprehension of more Undocumented Immigration

This article adds the case of Egypt to the themed section’s overall research interest, examining the extent to which the Egyptian government has reacted in its migration policies to incentives provided by the EU. It shows that Egypt’s 2016 ‘Anti-Smuggling Law’ (ASL), praised as a ‘milestone’, was crucial for the regime’s further power consolidation. Building on Tsourapas’s concept of ‘migration interdependence’, Egypt’s migration policy rather fulfils the purpose as ‘dramaturgical act’, aimed more at pleasing an international audience than improving migrants’ living conditions. Thus, the article also contributes to the widely debated ‘illiberal paradox’ in migration policies.