Link to downloadable PDF: Working paper on Mapping the Migration Governance Arena
By Chloé Brière (ULB)
The NAVIGATOR project investigates how the European Union (EU) navigates the complex and conflict-ridden landscape of global governance to promote a rules-based international order. This effort is influenced by the EU’s external competences, the diverse positions of Member States, and the evolving nature of global governance. This working paper delves into the governance arrangements in the migration policy area.
Migration, as a policy area, is multifaceted, encompassing legal, social, economic, and security dimensions. Persons on the move may benefit from different status and frameworks, ranging refugee and international protection, labour migration, to the approach of migration as a security issue, leading to the criminalisation of migrant smuggling and human trafficking, or the need to address concerns around migration and climate change. This leads to a complex multi-level governance, composed of non-state and state institutions, formal and informal mechanisms for cooperation and the emergence of networks and coalitions focusing on a specific region or phenomenon.
In such a context the EU develops the external dimension of its migration policy, which is increasingly complex. It covers formal cooperation agreements, ad hoc cooperation mechanisms and the financial support to countries, regions and organisations active in the field of migration. Despite the EU’s active involvement, Member States retain significant influence, both in internal EU negotiations and external cooperation, leading at times to the development of a “Team Europe” approach, which integrates EU institutions and Member States.
To take stock of the landscape of global migration governance, in which the EU must develop and pursue its migration policy, this working paper aims to:
- Map existing global and regional migration governance arrangements, balancing general and specific frameworks.
- Assess these arrangements using the NAVIGATOR project’s criteria, including formality, accessibility, and normativity.
- Identify the EU’s role and participation in these arrangements, as well as the role and participation of the EU Member States.
The paper employs a two-step methodology: extensive desk research to review current academic and policy discussions on global migration governance, and a classification of governance arrangements based on the established criteria. The final analysis presents trends in global migration governance and assesses the EU’s role within these frameworks, highlighting the challenges and opportunities for the EU in shaping migration governance consistent with its constitutional commitments.
