Description
South America has developed an intra-regional migration regime that has received a lot of scholarly attention due to its liberal and open policies and narratives. However, at the same time, literature has highlighted the ‘gap’ between this liberal approach and more restrictive implementation, with increased border militarization, and restrictions on movement. This dichotomy between the liberal narrative and securitizing border practices is the focus of this study. We use ontological security theory to understand the importance of continuous narratives and everyday practices in building trust and a sense of security within a population. This leads us to our central research question: how can ontological security theory help us to understand the contradictions within SA migration governance? We analyse bordering practices across the region in the post-COVID period, which has been characterized by several ‘waves’ of border militarization. Through a critical discourse analysis of media and political speeches we illustrate how elites have been able to uphold the liberal migration narrative while implementing increasingly securitized border restrictions.
