Theorising the Paradox of EU Democracy Promotion and Migration Externalisation in Nigeria

This doctoral study develops an original theoretical resolution to the apparent paradox between the European Union's democracy promotion commitments and its migration externalisation practices as jointly applied to Nigeria, arguing that this paradox is not an institutional inconsistency but a systematically reproduced feature of EU foreign policy architecture that serves identifiable strategic interests. The study advances original theory by synthesising EU foreign policy coherence frameworks, Critical Security Studies, and the political sociology of international organisations. Empirical evidence is generated through a comprehensive analysis of EU democracy programming in Nigeria alongside EU migration externalisation programmes, with specific focus on cases where democracy promotion and migration control objectives have produced direct policy tensions. Three original empirical contributions drive the theoretical argument: a systematic mapping of funding allocation asymmetries between EU democracy and migration control spending in Nigeria (2014-2024); qualitative analysis of 35 elite interviews with EU democracy and migration policy officials, Nigerian civil society actors, and migration policy experts; and three detailed case studies examining EU-Nigeria deportation cooperation, EU support for Nigerian security forces involved in migration control, and EU-funded media freedom programming. The theoretical contribution is a Structured Paradox Model that explains why institutional incoherence in EU external action persists and is reproduced rather than resolved. Keywords: EU democracy promotion, migration externalisation, paradox, Nigeria, EU foreign policy coherence.