Over the last two decades and with notable increase since 2015, millions of euros have been invested in territorial border governance in West Africa. Targeting migration policy frameworks, capacity building, and the provision of material, the EU and individual European states have sought to improve control mechanisms along these vast and porous borders. This article explores the local impact and broader ramifications of primarily externally funded policy efforts as they are implemented along Ghana's three international borders with Burkina Faso, Côte D’Ivoire, and Togo. Drawing on observations at official checkpoints and interviews with border control officers and border crossers, the article finds that recent initiatives have facilitated the modernization, expansion, and professionalization of border control. Yet, these enhancements have concurrently led to increased reliance on external support, altered local social relations in border checkpoint areas, and triggered the criminalization of legal emigration. The article situates these developments within its geopolitical landscape, illustrating how externally driven migration governance, when detached from local realities, yields both immediate and far-reaching ramifications. Drawing on and extending critical migration governance analysis and border theory, this study underscores the importance of scrutinizing not only explicit, but also the more subtle and rippling effects of European externalization policies in Africa, as they extend beyond local contexts to influence wider societal structures.

中文翻译：

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西非的外部驱动型边境管制：地方影响和更广泛影响


在过去的二十年里，自 2015 年以来，西非的领土边界治理投资了数百万欧元。针对移民政策框架、能力建设和材料供应，欧盟和各个欧洲国家一直在寻求改善这些广阔而漏洞百出的边界沿线的控制机制。本文探讨了主要由外部资助的政策努力在加纳与布基纳法索、科特迪瓦和多哥的三个国际边界实施时对当地的影响和更广泛的影响。根据对官方检查站的观察和对边境管制官员和过境者的采访，文章发现最近的举措促进了边境控制的现代化、扩展和专业化。然而，这些改进同时导致对外部支持的依赖增加，改变了边境检查站地区的地方社会关系，并引发了合法移民的刑事定罪。文章将这些发展置于其地缘政治景观中，说明了外部驱动的移民治理在脱离当地现实时如何产生直接和深远的影响。本研究借鉴并扩展了批判性移民治理分析和边界理论，强调了不仅要仔细审查欧洲在非洲的外部化政策的明确影响，而且要仔细审查其更微妙和涟漪的影响，因为它们超越了当地环境，影响了更广泛的社会结构。