While the fact that the implementation of migration policies fails to perfectly manage migration is well known, the actual dynamics of policy implementation have received little attention to date. A ...serious engagement with this phenomenon requires a move beyond policy texts and political intentions, and towards a 'migration regime' perspective that pays attention to the inherent contradictions, conflicts of interest and competing logics within migration control practices. This collection posits a multi-actor perspective that includes state agents, migrants and non-state actors alike and proposes three key factors that require a closer examination: competing institutional logics, discretionary practices and migrants' agency. Based on original empirical research, the contributions of this collection 'zoom in' on specific asymmetrical negotiations over the right to enter or remain in Europe, and focus on the institutional logics and interplay between the different actors involved.
Pressures to comply with EU rules have allegedly eroded opportunities for national governments to adopt policies that they support. Conversely, research into differentiated implementation underlines ...that governments use their discretion to tailor supranational policies to national contexts. This study addresses these competing arguments using unique data on the implementation of EU migration issues. On the one hand, compliance with EU rules is expected to compel governments to transpose liberal migration policies, even when they favour restrictive measures. However, increased politicisation and differentiated integration are likely to increase governments' autonomy to pursue restrictive policy preferences during transposition. The findings suggest that the constraining effect of EU policies is conditional on the importance that governments place on immigration issues and differentiated participation in the EU. Thus, it is important to consider both domestic and supranational conditions to understand fully the impact of external constraints on government policy implementation.
The aim of this paper is to better understand the role played by epistemic communities in the legal and policy relevance of Mobility Partnerships for third countries. I argue that the influence of ...epistemic communities on the legal and policy developments of a third country varies according to the context in which they operate. Epistemic communities benefitting from a certain authority over third countries or a certain form of 'prestige' will be more likely to be influential. However, third country's agency should not be neglected as we can see that the most effective epistemic communities operate where the third country is willing to listen and respond to a specific need for support. The paper shows that we can only comprehend the role of epistemic communities in the relevance of Mobility Partnerships, if we take seriously the interests of third countries and understand the context in which Mobility Partnerships are being negotiated and implemented.
The EU has drawn on its migration policy in the Middle East and North Africa as a method of region-building set to reconfigure a broader EU Mediterranean Neighborhood. At the same time, EU migration ...policy as a region-building initiative has had contentious, albeit understudied, effects. We know little about either variation in states' responses to the EU or the contextual dynamics and motives pushing them to challenge EU migration policy as a vector for regulating regions 'from beyond'. Building on the case of displacement from Syria, the article targets the EU's refugee approach in its 'neighborhood' as a site of contention whereby states, rather than being policy borrowers, dispute the EU's attempt to regulate regions. The article employs insights from EU refugee cooperation with Lebanon, one of the key regional host states. It shows how Lebanon has sought to contest and adapt the EU's script of resilience-building, which consists of strengthening governments' capacity to host refugees 'within the region' and at a distance. Looking at EU neighbors as policy agents rather than vessels helps to unravel the tensions underlying the external, regional, and bilateral dimensions of EU migration policy and delineate how these overlapping dimensions play out on the ground.
How do radical right populist parties influence government policies in their core issue of immigration? This article provides a systematic analysis of the direct and indirect effects of radical right ...anti-immigration parties on migration policy reforms in 17 West European countries from 1990 to 2014. Insights from migration policy theory serve to explain variations in the migration policy success of the radical right. While previous studies mostly treat migration policy as uniform, it is argued that this approach neglects the distinct political logics of immigration and integration policy. This article reveals significant variations in policy success by policy area. While immigration policies have become more liberal despite the electoral success of the radical right, when the radical right is in government office it enacts more restrictions in integration policies. Accordingly, anti-immigrant mobilisation is more likely to influence immigrants' rights than their actual numbers.
The signing of EU readmission agreements is commonly believed to lead to a higher rate of returns of migrants found ineligible to stay in Europe. By analysing the EU’s ‘return rate’ with the whole ...world over a period of 11 years (2008–18), this article argues that (formal or informal) EU readmission arrangements may have less impact than widely assumed. They often lead only to temporary increases in the return rates of third countries – if at all. Their relevance may have been overstated, even in Eastern Europe and the Western Balkans, when looking at the return rates of neighbouring states without agreement. The return rates of third countries tend to follow regional dynamics. Most African states have converged at lower levels, irrespective of readmission cooperation with the EU. These regional trends imply a widening gap between regions with high and low EU return rates.
Resumen. El artículo analiza, en base a la revisión de la literatura existente y con perspectiva histórica, la construcción de la frontera chileno-peruana a partir de la relación entre las ...movilidades constantes de personas por las localidades cercanas a la frontera y las políticas y legislación migratoria chilena. Recorreremos la construcción de la frontera a lo largo de cinco periodos históricos: i) 1883-1929, posterior a la Guerra del Pacífico; ii) 1929-1950, con el relativo absentismo estatal chileno en la frontera norte; iii) 1950-1973, con el ciclo chileno de la industrialización fronteriza; iv) 1973-1990, cuando Chile y Perú aplicaron criterios militares, estratégicos y geopolíticos en su relación con estas fronteras; y v) 1990-2019, con la recuperación de la democracia y la consolidación del modelo neoliberal.
The refugee crisis which hit the European Union and its member states during 2015–16 was just one in a series of recent crises, but perhaps the most critical for the EU's resilience. This book shows ...how policymakers in the EU polity have tried to come to terms with it. To explain how they reacted to the crisis domestically and jointly at the EU-level, the study relies on an original method to analyze political processes. It argues that the policy-specific institutional context and the specific crisis situation, defined in terms of asymmetrical problem and political pressure, largely shaped the crisis response. The authors suggest that the way in which the refugee crisis was managed has resulted in conflicts between member states, which have been further exacerbated in subsequent crises and will continue to haunt the EU in times to come. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.
PDF
