Globalisation, Citizenship and Migration

WE WELCOME ALL PANEL AND PAPER PROPOSALS ON GLOBILISATION, CITIZENSHIP AND MIGRATION. BELOW ARE SOME SPECIFIC IDEAS FROM THE SECTION CHAIRS. The (Global) Governance of Migration – Utopia or Reality in the Making? Migration is an intrinsic part of globalization processes as well as a salient political issue that currently dominates local, national, regional and global agendas. While globalization is presented as the free flow of capital, goods and information, there is disagreement as to how it affects the patterns and reasons for mobility. Whereas some authors argue that globalization leads to more migration and to higher welfare gains and/or costs, there is also evidence that in the field of migration globalization is better described as asymmetrical, with migrants moving to a small pool of countries (Czaika & de Haas 2014). The current European migration and refugee crisis challenges the common understanding of “global governance of migration” and raises doubts about the extent to which human mobility can be tamed and made predictable through governance techniques, such as migration management. In this session, we want to critically examine the extent to which it is possible to speak of the ‘global governance of migration’ and to unpack the elements and consequences of such a notion for those who engage in mobility but also for those who are immobile or immobilized (citizens of receiving countries, refugees stuck in camps, people who want to move but do not have the financial means or social capital to do so). We invite papers that cluster around 4 issues we want to address in order to theoretically and empirically examine migration governance and its interlinkages with citizenship. Issue 1 - Governance, Management and Pluralism: We invite papers that discuss the theoretical conceptualization of global migration governance and try to advance the understanding of its relationship with the management of migratory processes. We are interested in contrasting discourses about migration management and what actually happens on the ground, how are policy and politics translated into implementation on the ground and with what consequences in terms of actually influencing migration flows, their direction and span. This will allow taking a step further in understanding to what extent the global governance of migration is a reality or a discursive and narrative tool employed by certain actors. Issue 2 - Multilayered Migration Governance: we propose to explore the different levels (global, regional and bilateral) of multi-layered migration governance and understand how their interactions influence cooperative efforts between states to deal with migratory movements. We are equally interested in the different actors involved in this process. While controlling migration is something we traditionally associate with states and state administration (eg. border controls performed by border guards), not only are there more actors involved but they are also very different actors with different interests, capacities, etc. Equally, we are keen to understand to what extent migration governance goes beyond the control of labour migration and with what consequences. We also welcome empirical papers looking at specific actors or groups that are the subject of management. Issue 3 - Migration Governance and Security Implications: We are interested in examining migration management through the lens of geographies of control. Current (EU) practices in the field of international migration reflect the fact that borders although axiomatic of where control traditionally takes place, are being supplemented by a variety of practices of control, such as selection of (labour) migrants or asylum seekers with credible claims of persecution that take place elsewhere than at the border. We invite papers that discuss new and perhaps unexpected sites of management in order to reflect on how migration governance impacts traditional notions of state sovereignty and national and international expressions thereof. Issue 4 - Governance, Citizenship and Sovereignty: What is the impact of notions such as the global governance of migration on traditional political concepts such as, citizenship? As a result of globalization, is it necessary to develop new political concepts to express the relationship between persons and political entities in a globalized world? Do the legal and political concepts of citizens, migrants and refugees still accurately express the relationship between individuals, territory and authority? We are interested in papers that theoretically and critically engage with globalization as the new condition of modernity and the shifts that such a view has for the binary citizen/Other. While globalization is seen as opening up the avenue for multicultural societies and eroding state sovereignty over borders, in Europe we notice an increase in populism, right-wing political parties and a return to nationalism as a cultural and political construct that guides our understanding of legal and political membership. We invite papers that discuss the impact of globalization on nationalism and citizenship as state ideologies, and probe into the relationship between globalization, citizenship and identity as mediated through the experience of migration. Biographies Sandra Mantu is researcher at the Centre for Migration Law of the Radboud University, the Netherlands. She has been involved in several EU projects looking at the legal aspects of EU citizenship and EU migration and mobility frameworks. Together with Elspeth Guild she has co-edited a volume on labour migration (E. Guild and S. Mantu, 2011, Constructing and Imagining Labour Migration: Perspectives of Control from Five Continents, Ashgate). Sandra defended her PhD in 2014 in which she examined state practices of citizenship deprivation at the national, regional and international levels. Elisa Fornalé is Marie Curie Fellow at the Centre for Migration Law at Radboud University. Before joining the Centre, she worked at the World Trade Institute at University of Berne (CH), as post-doctoral researcher and project leader. She was involved in the NCCR Trade Regulation (Swiss National Centre of Competences in research), Work Package Trade and the Diffusion of Migration Law, Policy and Economics.