The Informal Institutions of Migration Interdependence in East Asia

• In Event: Migration Interdependence in World Politics

Abstract

According to the United Nations Migration Report (2022), Asia is the second largest destination for international migrants following Europe, with over 86 million migrants. Over half of migrants residing in Asia were also born in Asia. Despite the high levels of intra-regional migration flows, migration governance within Asia continues to rely entirely on bilateral agreements. Why are there no migrant labor regional institutions within Asia? This paper analyzes migration interdependence in East Asia by comparing two institutions that have institutionalized labor migration flows between Southeast Asian countries (especially the Philippines and Vietnam) and the two largest Northeast Asian recipients of labor migration, Japan and South Korea: guestworker programs and international student programs. We demonstrate how these two programs have led to heightened competition for skilled labor between countries of destination that, while facilitating greater migration flows between countries in Southeast and Northeast Asia, have stifled regional cooperation on migration governance. Bilateral economic agreements have in turn, engendered highly uneven, underdeveloped frameworks for protecting migrant rights and facilitating migrant integration in countries of destination. The paper offers insights into negative cases of migration interdependence, where migration becomes a force driving socio-political dis-integration between states.

Authors

• Yunchen Tian, International Research Center for Japanese Studies (Nichibunken)

• Erin Aeran Chung, Johns Hopkins University

• James F. Hollifield, Southern Methodist University