The Three Worlds of Migration Policy: Towards a Theory of Sending State Regimes

• In Event: 549 - Section on International Migration Refereed Roundtable Session and Business Meeting
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 03. Theorizing Migration and Assimilation

Abstract

Migration theory has historically dismissed the role of sending states in labor migration, with theories ground in social and economic mechanisms that left little room for political interventions. The theory was supported by evidence from major cases, like that of Mexico, where sending state policies were either absent altogether, or overridden by other processes. However, migration flows have changed significantly in the neoliberal era, and these changes have produced different policy orientations among sending states. Many sending states – the Philippines is a prominent example – now have explicit migration management policies that are geared towards promoting and facilitating particular types of labor migration. Even sending countries without such programs have policies to manage relations with their diaspora, whose remittances now play critical roles in their economies. Drawing from primary case studies of the Mexican, Moroccan, and Philippine cases, with additional evidence from other sending states, I propose a tripartite typology for understanding sending state interventions in labor migration.

Author

• Suzy K Lee, New York University