Hard borders and soft agreements: evaluating governance within the Global Compact for Migration

Abstract

Welcomed as a milestone in the governance of transnational migration, the adoption of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly, and Regular Migration marked a significant step forward in international cooperation on migration governance. Through a critical evaluation of its normative and structural features, this paper evaluates the strengths, weaknesses, tensions and contradictions within the compact. It finds that the compact is marked by innovative and ambitious objectives and gives recognition to the diversity and complexity of migration practices. However, its amplification of state sovereignty, its perpetuation of classical liberal statist ideals, and its ambiguity concerning the social-structural and institutional conditions necessary to protect migrants’ rights and interests risk undermining its implementation and effectiveness. The paper argues that this framework is best understood as a progressive neoliberal model that relies on the virtue of states over legal and justice-based institutional mechanisms for its authority and implementation. This model risks reinforcing status quo power relations and is insufficient to achieve its stated objectives.