Remote Management of the European Neighbourhood Policy. The Neoliberal Bureaucratisation of a Non-governmental Sector in Ukraine

The mechanisms and effects of neoliberal bureaucratization are analyzed with regard to donor-NGO relations and the EU?s external migration policies. Given the strong value attached to the principles of accountability, rationality and efficiency, all organizations involved in EU aid (the European Commission, UNHCR, and local NGOs) are forced toward bureaucratization, but they also benefit from it since it endows them with legitimacy and secures their place in the aid economy. Bureaucratization enables donors to exercise control over the recipients of their funding even though the latter retain leeway (through translation processes, in particular). Furthermore, the actors involved in this bureaucratization accept, internalize, and spread bureaucratic standards, expectations and work patterns.