7. Conclusion

Seeking to move beyond the view of humanitarianism as exclusively complicit with states and migration control, this book argues that the issue at stake, on which further research would be needed, is more concerned with the kind of politics to which humanitarian actors contribute and the forms and the limits of the politicization to which they contribute. The borderwork of the mainstream humanitarian organizations analyzed in this study can be considered as a political-humanitarian borderwork: the line between the two was blurred and the humanitarian intervention was also used to accomplish, and to make possible, the political one. Furthermore, the kind of (de)politicization processes to which these actors contributed can be specified. This book highlights that (a) the mainstream humanitarian organizations, not unlike grassroots groups, have been able to politicize their positioning and actions vis-à-vis the authorities precisely when the latter have further tightened migration policies, and (b) the political borderwork of the mainstream humanitarian organizations has helped to promote an incremental change in the status quo rather than a radical change of the border management system.