This book examines the role of European Union (EU) agencies in the EU’s external border control policy, looking at how the empowerment of particular bodies has shaped the management of their external borders and influenced EU governance more broadly.

Focusing on four key aspects of agency involvement – joint sea operations, information access, inter-agency cooperation, and international action – the book sheds light on the daily policy implementation and operational collaboration at the EU’s external borders and beyond. It finds that the agencies increasingly demonstrated the capacity to sway decision-making and implementation from within. This has led to a reduction in Member States’ policy autonomy, an increase in EU oversight over border management, and the institutionalisation of a common administrative capacity at the EU level, leading to a shift in the EU’s approach to border management towards integration.

This book will be of key interest to scholars and students of border management, migration studies and asylum, EU administration and agencies, and more broadly European studies, international relations, and public administration.