Paper for the Conference on Conceptual and Methodological Developments in the Study of International Migration

Migration policies often fail to achieve their declared objectives or have unintended consequences. This paper discusses some of the many reasons for this. It starts with a brief historical overview of state involvement in migration management. Then three sets of factors are examined: those arising from the social dynamics of the migratory process; those arising from globalisation and transnationalism; and those arsing within the political system. Attention is drawn to key issues such as the role of migrant agency in sustaining migratory processes despite official policies, the importance of the North-South divide in generating flows, and the hidden agendas in national policies, which make it hard to assess their real goals and outcomes. A case-study is presented of the Europe Union’s attempts to address the root causes of migration in countries of origin. This illustrates the complexity and the inter-connectedness of the many factors which influence migration policies and their outcomes. In conclusion, it is suggested that migration policies can only become more successful if they are explicitly linked to long-term political agendas concerned with trade, development and conflict prevention. In the current global order, migration control is really about regulating North-South relationships and maintaining inequality. Only when the central objective shifts to one of reducing inequality will migration control become both successful and – eventually – superfluous. Biographical Note Stephen Castles is Professor of Migration and Refugee Studies, and Director of the Refugee Studies Centre at the University of Oxford. He has worked in Germany, Australia, Asia and Africa. His books include: Immigrant Workers and Class Structure in Western Europe (with Godula Kosack, London: Oxford University Press, 1973); Here for Good: Western Europe’s New Ethnic Minorities (London: Pluto, 1984); The Age of Migration: International Population Movements in the Modern World (with Mark Miller, Basingstoke, Palgrave, 3 edition, 2003); Citizenship and Migration: Globalization and the Politics of Belonging (with Alastair Davidson, London: Macmillan, 2000); and Ethnicity and Globalization: From Migrant Worker to Transnational Citizen (London: Sage, 2000). [email protected]