Description: This research investigates the growing role of “soft power” in migration control, focusing on Belgium’s Assisted Voluntary Return and Reintegration (AVRR) programs. While voluntary return is presented as a humane and voluntary alternative to deportation, scholars increasingly question its true voluntariness, describing it as a form of “soft deportation.” Within the field of border criminology, however, the mechanisms and implications of such “soft” governance remain insufficiently understood. The research, therefore, has three primary objectives: on a theoretical level, it aims to deepen the conceptual understanding of “soft power” in global migration control and governance. On an empirical level, it aims to examine how AVRR is implemented across Belgium’s regional and linguistic contexts (Flanders, Brussels, Wallonia) and among state and non-state actors (Immigration Office, Fedasil, Caritas and IOM). Finally, on a practical level, it aims to explore how strategies of soft control shape institutional processes and practices, migrants’ lived experiences, and broader social understandings of return.
Using a multi-perspective and ethnographic approach, the research combines innovative methods such as institutional mapping and participant diaries with traditional qualitative techniques, including interviews and observations. By exploring the implementation of AVRR across Belgium’s organizational and linguistic borders, the study examines how “soft” power dynamics are enacted and negotiated within return migration governance. It investigates how these dynamics shape institutional logics and objectives among state and non-state actors, and how they influence migrants’ experiences, agency, and perceptions of voluntariness and legitimacy.
Promotors: Lars Breuls and An-Sofie Vanhouche
Researcher: Laure Deschuyteneer
Funding: PhD Fellowship Fundamental research Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (FWO)
Duration: 2025 - 2029