This article explores the relationship between policy narratives and the design of the Italian border management and external migration control regime in the last two decades. First, drawing from the theory of social construction and policy design and through a qualitative application of the Narrative Policy Framework, the article traces the evolution of narratives developed by key actors in government. Second, it investigates the design of the Italian externalization policy. Empirical material is drawn from government documents and decision-makers’ parliamentary interventions, press conferences, speeches, newspaper interviews and op-eds. The evidence shows that the dominant narratives have remained constant over time. Humanitarian rhetoric has been mobilized to justify and legitimize the implementation of security measures through bilateral agreements signed with African countries. The implications of such a design are relevant in that it poses serious concerns in terms of respect for migrants’ human rights. Overall, the article offers new insights into the empirical investigation of policy narratives and sheds light on the role of narratives in the social construction of migration policy design.

本文探讨了过去二十年政策叙述与意大利边境管理和外部移民控制制度设计之间的关系。首先，从社会建构和政策设计的理论出发，并通过叙事政策框架的定性应用，本文追溯了政府主要参与者发展叙事的演变。其次，它研究了意大利外部化政策的设计。实证材料来自政府文件和决策者的议会干预、新闻发布会、演讲、报纸采访和专栏。证据表明，随着时间的推移，占主导地位的叙述一直保持不变。通过与非洲国家签署的双边协议，人道主义言论已被动员起来，以证明安全措施的实施是合理的和合法的。这种设计的含义是相关的，因为它在尊重移民人权方面引起了严重关切。总体而言，本文为政策叙事的实证研究提供了新的见解，并阐明了叙事在移民政策设计的社会建构中的作用。