The Governance of Migration in a Globalizing World

Our approach

Migration is a central component of an increasingly interconnected world which shapes economies, communities, and political dynamics across countries and regions. As people move for work, safety, family, education, and opportunity, the governance of migration extends well beyond national borders and involves a wide range of actors, including states, cities, civil society, international organizations, and the private sector.

Migration, in all its forms – humanitarian or economic or family-related – is a transnational phenomenon and requires transnational or global institutions for effective governance. And yet we are witnessing today the sever undermining of existing international institutions like the International Organisation of Migration (IOM), the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) as well as the World Health Organisation (WHO) – that is also closely related to migration issues. At the same time migration is becoming increasingly weaponised by many destination, origin and transit countries, to force cooperation with little concern about the rights and dignity of migrants.

In this bleak moment, empirical and analytical research on new and old forms of cooperation, partnership or policy innovation is important both to identify challenges and to propose solutions for a rights-informed governance of migration in a globalising world.

Our research focus

Research under this theme examines how migration is governed across local, national, regional, and global levels, and how governance arrangements evolve in response to changing patterns of mobility. It focuses on the institutions, policies, and practices that shape migration outcomes, as well as the opportunities for collaboration and collective action across borders.

Key areas of inquiry include:

• Governance frameworks for different drivers of immigration and emigration, including labour mobility, asylum and refugee protection, return and reintegration, and mixed migration across internal, regional, and intercontinental contexts
• Migration governance processes, including bilateral and multilateral agreements, regional consultative mechanisms, and international cooperation initiatives
• Asylum, refugee protection, and resettlement governance, including the interaction between domestic, regional, and international frameworks
• Approaches to irregular migration, with a focus on better data and methodologies to understand such hidden phenomena and guide a humane approach to migrants without status
• The growing role of data, digital technologies, and information systems in shaping migration governance, coordination, and accountability