Theorizing Immigration Politics: Insights from the Global South

Abstract

What governance strategies do states across the Global South employ to secure their control over immigration? Is there a fundamental difference in the role of civil society, international organizations, legal actors or state bureaucracies compared to immigration politics in the Global North? Or is there something specific about how autocracies go about it compared to democracies? And what can we learn from such analyses for global theory-building on immigration policy? This panel offers reflections on what unites immigration policy dynamics across political geographies. It invites migration scholarship to break away from claiming the exceptionalism of ‘Southern’ immigration policies and from unilaterally transferring ‘Northern’ theory to ‘Southern’ case studies. Instead, it mobilizes comparative, empirical and conceptual analyses from across Africa, Europe and the Middle East to revisit and advance theories on immigration policymaking. Hereby, the panel seeks to bridge conversations on immigration policy across the Global South/Global North divide and to foster dialogue among comparative politics, public policy and migration scholars who are keen to advance collective efforts at ‘recentering the South in studies of migration’ (Fiddian-Qasmiyeh 2020).

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