Mapping New North-South Cooperation? The Economics of Refugee Governance Between Resettlement, Labor Market Integration and International Development

Is it possible to envision ‘refugees as development agent' for international development cooperation that may help optimize refugee labor integration and reduce its negative social and political effects? Supported by the concepts ‘refugees as benefactors’ and ‘private sector and diaspora activism’, the paper examines the interface between political economy and refugee governance found in a variety of initiatives and mobilization efforts for refugee resettlement, recovery and reconstruction connecting the host and transit countries (notably Germany, Turkey and Lebanon) and the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. It explores the possibilities of ‘think and act differently’ in North-South cooperation by considering refugee governance as a four-way-process in the transnational space between refugees, sending and host countries and civil society actors (CSO, e.g. business and diaspora communities). The inclusion of refugees and the business sector as active development agents may help remap a more viable cooperation between the North and the South while addressing the issues of underdevelopment, structural inequality, and terrorism. The novelty of this paper lies in its theory-based multi-level empirical analysis that highlights the link between state refugee policy, refugees labor integration, social engagement and investment activities of non-state actors (e.g. business and diaspora communities) and international development from a transdisciplinary perspective, thereby providing new theoretical insights into the nexus of economics, international development and migration.