New Scientific Monograph on Border Criminologies

A new scientific monograph titled Border Criminologies from the Periphery: Cross‑national Conversations on Bordered Penality has been published by Routledge. Edited by José A. Brandariz, Giulia Fabini, Cristina Fernández-Bessa and Valeria Ferraris, the volume brings together international scholars to critically examine border control, penal power, and migration governance from perspectives often overlooked in mainstream criminological research.

Dr. Veronika Bajt, researcher at the Peace Institute, has contributed a chapter on Slovenia entitled “Pushbacks of Unwanted Migration.” She analyses the practice of so-called pushbacks along the Balkans migratory route, with a particular focus on the human rights violations, the normalization of violence at borders, and the criminalisation of people on the move. By examining pushbacks as a form of border enforcement and penal control, the chapter contributes to broader debates on migration, security, and accountability, while reinforcing the Peace Institute’s commitment to critical, socially engaged research that addresses contemporary challenges of migration governance.

Her contribution closely connects to the ongoing Horizon research project MORE – Motivations, Experiences and Consequences of Returns and Readmissions Policy: Revealing and Developing Effective Alternatives, which explores the lived experiences of migrants affected by return policies and forced removals. The MORE project aims to expose the real consequences of return and readmission regimes and to develop policy alternatives grounded in human rights, empirical research, and social justice.