The Politics of Migrant Reception in the Global South

Session Submission Type: Roundtable

Session Description

Despite that the Global South is host to more than half of all migrants and 86% of refugees according to the IOM, most scholarship on migrant reception focuses on the Global North. In particular, many less developed and middle-income countries of the Global South have transitioned from being primarily migrant-sending to primarily migrant-receiving countries, or they experience both phenomena on a large scale simultaneously. During these transitions, the political framing of migration often changes, as do the key actors pushing for specific migration agendas and policies. Institutions and norms may evolve based on the new migration context, or they may remain ‘sticky’, providing leverage for domestic or international political actors to constrain the government’s potential actions toward new migrants. This roundtable panel will engage experts on different countries in Latin America, Africa, Asia, and MENA in conversation and comparison to identify common patterns within migration host states in the Global South, and draw distinctions from the experience of migrant reception in the Global North. Loren Landau will discuss South Africa, while Lahra Smith will analyze the Horn of Africa, particularly Ethiopia. Kelsey Norman will examine the case of Morocco within the broader context of the Middle East and North Africa. Fiona Adamson will focus on Turkey, the largest recipient of refugees in the world, while Tazreena Sajjad will reflect on Bangladesh, which is on the front lines of the displacement of Rohingya refugees. Jeff Pugh will discuss Ecuador, which has for the past two decades been the largest recipient of refugees in the Americas while simultaneously sending 10% of its population to Europe and elsewhere, while Consuelo Sanchez will examine Colombia, long a site of displacement that has now become host to the largest population of displaced Venezuelans fleeing the crisis in their country. The comparative discussion of these cases will yield insights that are more broadly generalizable to receiving countries in the Global South. In particular, the role of informal actors and weak state governance, the importance of networks, reciprocal solidarity appeals, and the central role of identity in the construction of security will be discussed and debated. The roundtable will incorporate a focus on the framing of migration in the era of an emerging global migration governance regime driven by the global compacts, externalization, and securitization. How do norms, institutions, and political practices evolve (or not) when migration flows shift and evolve in the Global South? What is the strength of normative and institutional continuity during these transitions, and how are issues framed in ways that attempt to influence the policy agenda either to maintain continuity or to promote change in the new migration context? How do shifting population flows interact with nationalist and populist forces within society to renegotiate the boundaries of belonging and national identity? Finally, the roundtable will re-center the migration discussion away from its Eurocentric and U.S.-focused tendencies to provide a platform for discussing migration reception in the geographies where it occurs most often.

Sub Unit

• DIVISION 52: Migration and Citizenship

Chair

• Loren B. Landau University of the Witwatersrand

Presenters

• Fiona B. Adamson University of London, SOAS

• Kelsey P. Norman Rice University

• Jeffrey Daniel Pugh University of Massachusetts-Boston

• Tazreena Sajjad American University

• Consuelo Sanchez-Bautista University of Minnesota

• Lahra Smith Georgetown University