Un/making protection: EU temporary protection and the governance of the Ukrainian displaced in Vienna in a global perspective

Abstract

This article explores the reception of the Ukrainian displaced in Vienna following Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, and the workings of temporary protection (TP). It analyses how response to the mass influx of displaced persons has been shaped jointly by the legacies of managing (forced) migration and the intersection of international, national, and regional governance. We situate the EU TP scheme within the wider historical and regional contexts of TP in the countries of Europe, Latin America, and Turkey, as well as in connection with the transformation of international protection. We demonstrate that TP represents part of the general erosion of international protection, the expanding discretion of nation-states, and the increasing politicisation of migration. We also trace how the shift to such ‘temporary’ frameworks shapes the contradictory statuses of displaced persons. We argue that this spread of temporary schemes, along with other emergency and exceptionality-driven tools, undergirds the resurgence of state power vis-à-vis both international and local governance. The expansion of state control is accompanied by the relegation of responsibility and the forgoing of rights-based guarantees. This trend defines today’s governance of the displaced and other populations through re-ordering of the regimes of labour, (im)mobility, and participation.