The External Consequences of Internal Policies: How the Treatment of Migrants Shapes the European Union's Global Influence

The proposed paper argues that the way migrants are treated by EU countries has an impact on the EU's global normative influence. The argument is based on an analysis of human rights protection in the EU and in partner countries. The paper analyzes data on human rights protection in the EU and in other countries around the world from 2002 to 2011. The analysis shows that when human rights policies in the EU improve the impact of the EU's financial assistance is strengthened and assistance-recipients emulate EU member countries' human rights policies. The EU's influence on assistance-recipients’ human rights policies withers when the mean human rights protection score in the EU deteriorates. This means that the degree to which EU countries set a positive example and demonstrate their commitment to the policies which they promote through the EU, has tangible quantifiable implications on the EU's ability to translate potential power into actual power. These results suggest that the EU’s partner-countries evaluate the EU's member countries' internal compliance with the norms the EU promotes in its external policies, and the legitimacy of the demands and conditions attached to the EU's financial assistance. Weak intra-EU compliance with these demands weakens the legitimacy of the EU's human rights promotion and slows the rate of human rights reforms. The proposed paper derives theoretical implications regarding the link between internal policies and external influence and policy implications particularly regarding the impact of the way migrant are treated in EU countries on the EU's global influence.