Governance and Ethics
Work in this area focuses on the way in which policy decisions on migration are made at an international and national level, including the engagement of NGOs in the policy making process. A key dimension of an understanding of migration management, it explores the cross-cutting nature of migration issues, the implications for governance arrangements, and asks whose interests are served when the objectives of a particular policy are overtly or implicitly determined.
Project:
Migration policy in Ireland is experiencing a period of rapid change. In less than a decade, Ireland has had to adapt from a country of emigration to one of significant inward migration, for which it lacked appropriate policies, procedures and services. While opportunities have opened up for labour migrants to live and work in Ireland and others have secured residence as refugees or dependants, NGOs have highlighted concerns about the treatment of some migrants and their living and working conditions and have sought to influence government policy to provide greater protection for migrants in immigration, employment and welfare policy.
This project evaluates the capacity of the NGO sector to influence the future development of the policies of the Irish government as they relate to the rights of migrants in Ireland. It reviews current migration and integration policies in Ireland and the likely policy agenda for 2005-7, to identify opportunities for influence on policy development. Criteria are developed for evaluation of NGOs’ capacity to influence policy making and identify barriers to such influence, drawing on experience within and beyond Ireland of the relationship between government and NGOs working on migration issues. Having mapped the key NGOs working on migration issues in Ireland which include informing or influencing government policy within their remit, it evaluates the capacity of those NGOs to influence future policy according to the criteria proposed, exploring any tensions between that objective and the functions and objectives of the NGOs in question. Options for enhancing the influence of the NGO migration sector will also be identified.
Researcher: Sarah Spencer (Main contact - Link)
Timeline: Sept 04 to 05
Funder: Atlantic Philanthropies
Output: Executive summary and Full report available. Click here for details.
Project Findings (.pdf)
Events and Publications:
Reports and publications:
Düvell, Franck, 2007 (forthcoming), Applying sustainable conflict resolution strategies in disputes over Migration. Innovative Concepts for Alternative Migration Policies. In Jandle, Michael (ed) Innovative Concepts for Alternative Migration Policies. Amsterdam : Amsterdam University Press.
Düvell, Franck, 2007(forthcoming), British modes of migration regulations. In Doomernik, Jeroen; Jandl, Michael (eds), Modes of Migration Regulation and Control in Europe. Amsterdam: IMISCOE.
Düvell, Franck, 2007 (forthcoming), Migration Policy divergence and civil society activism: the case of anti-deportation campaigns. In Berggren, Erik, Branka Likic-Brboric, Gülay Toksöz and Nicos Trimikliniotis (eds), Irregular Migration, Informal Labour and Community in Europe. Maastricht: Shaker Publishing.
Düvell, Franck, 2006, Applying sustainable conflict resolution strategies in disputes over Migration. Innovative Concepts for Alternative Migration Policies. IMISCOE Policy Briefing. Conference Report on the ICMPD / IMISCOE Workshop Vienna , 24/25 March 2006. Amsterdam: IMISCOE, pp. 8-10, Link
Spencer, S., 2006, Migration and Integration: The Impact of NGOs on Future Policy Development in Ireland. Report written for The Atlantic Philanthropies, published as a COMPAS report. Click here for further information.
Ruhs, M., 2005, Designing viable and ethical labour immigration policies, Chapter 10 in World Migration 2005, International Organization for Migration (IOM), Geneva. Click here for further information.
Sarah Spencer, 2004, The Politics of Migration: Managing Opportunity, Conflict and Change, Oxford: Blackwell. Link for further information. Click here to download the first chapter.
'Making Migration Work for Britain': COMPAS Response to the Home Office Consulation on proposals for a new points-based system for managed migration, Oct 2005. Click here to download (.pdf)
Martin Ruhs and Ha-Joon Chang, 2004, ‘The Ethics of Labour Immigration Policy’, International Organization, 58: 69-102 - Click here to download the paper(.pdf).
COMPAS Staff Members working on this issue:
Martin Ruhs, Senior Labour Market Economist - Link to Biography
Sarah Spencer, Associate Director - Link to Biography
Networks and Links:
The Athens Migration Policy Initiative (Sarah Spencer, Member) Link
The European Policy Centre/King Baudouin Foundation initiative on Multicultural Europe (Sarah Spencer, Member) Link