The Diplomacy of Forced Migration

• In Event: Power Politics and Migration

Abstract

Organized population transfers, expulsions, and exchanges have been a surprisingly common feature of international politics, but little is known about the diplomacy that has accompanied such processes. This paper draws on the authors’ original dataset of incidents of state-organised forced migration, from 1900-present, and their relationship to bilateral and multilateral diplomacy. The paper engages three questions: 1) What diplomatic interests, tools and processes have shaped instances of state-organised forced migration? 2) What have been the diplomatic causes and effects of state-organised forced migration, and 3) How do these relate to other international political arenas? This interdisciplinary project fills an important gap in our understanding of migration and foreign policy, including its evolution over time and its regional and geographic variation.

Authors

• Fiona B. Adamson, SOAS, University of London

• Kelly M. M. Greenhill, Tufts and Harvard Universities

• Gerasimos Tsourapas, University of Glasgow