GOVERNING IRREGULAR MIGRATION AT THE MARGINS OF EUROPE reciprocity and exploitation, or in a bordering process that places the migrant at a distance. Distance can be emotional, but is first and foremost physical: the migrant is impeded from accessing the mainland. Australia, with the excision of territory and Pacific Solution I & II, is a classic example of islands being transformed into border zones that function as detention spaces (Vogl, 2015; Billings, 2013). In the Mediterranean Sea, islands have functioned as a «space within a space» for more than twenty years. Spain’s Canary Islands, Italy’s Lampedusa, Malta, Greece’s northern Aegean but also Ionian islands, have been on the receiving end of irregular migratory flows since the early 1990s, though of different volume and nationalities. Different strategies and practices have been deployed to manage irregular migration and reduce arrivals. The Spanish model is perhaps the most successful16, while Italy’s Lampedusa is perhaps one of the most well-known. Cuttitta (2014) considers Lampedusa as a hotspot, referring to the island instead of the specific facilities (see also Bialasiewicz, 2012). Lampedusa is at the same time an external border, a hotspot (since 2016), an island, and part of the externalization of EU policies that reach further out, to Tunisia and Libya. It is also an island where de Genova’s «spectacle of the border» has been extensively covered by the media17: the «scene is set that is about ‘exclusion’, where allegedly ‘unwanted’ or ‘undesirable’ – and in any case, ‘unqualified’ or ‘ineligible’ – migrants must be stopped, kept out, and turned around. At the same time, the border appears to demonstrate, verify, and legitimate the purported naturalness and putative necessity of such exclusion.» (de Genova, 2015). The islands of the Mediterranean have had a fluctuating relationship to their respective national centres, as is clearly visible in the islands of the Northern Aegean. Islands recognise the significance of their role and placement in the spatial configuration of Europe’s border regime, but are also increasingly frustrated by their role. This has resulted in a new set of conflicts between the islands and the mainland, with the former (unsuccessfully) using their position to resist the opening of detention facilities, and the latter continuously dangling the memory of 2015 and the humanitarian tragedy that unfolded on the Aegean Sea as a reminder and a forewarning to the islanders that their status is fragile and dependent on their cooperation18. x 16 Spain successfully externalised its migration management through partnerships with countries of origin and transit and simultaneously developed extensive border patrols using surveillance systems and fences. For a discussion of Spanish policies of migration management see Andersson, 2014. 17 Including migrant deaths. On 3 October 2013, a boat carrying migrants from Libya to Italy sank off the Italian island of Lampedusa. The boat had reported sailed from Libya and was carrying mostly persons from Eritrea, Somalia and Ghana. The death toll was later estimated to be 360 persons. A national day of mourning was declared in Italy, followed by live coverage of the funeral service. The incident drew the attention of world media, that have maintained in recent years a steady coverage of Lampedusa. 18 The government has repeatedly stressed that if migrants are moved from the islands the EU Turkey Statement will collapse, and the islanders will be the first to feel the effects. – 83 –