Imperialism and labour: why global migration governance is unnecessary and why it works

Abstract

In West Africa, the Maghreb and elsewhere, regular livelihoods and patterns of circulation have been uprooted, while migrants are terrorised by state policies in Africa and Europe. Global migration governance is apparently failing to encourage ‘safe, orderly and regular migration’ despite its rhetoric of human rights, African integration, free circulation and policy harmonisation. This article compares migration governance with structural adjustment in order to evaluate and expose the impact of its hegemonic policy frameworks. A political economy analysis of the historical formation of global migration governance and its current policies in Africa shows how European states and the USA contribute to the imperialist redivision of territories, the continued polarisation of wealth and destruction of the productive forces in African societies, both directly and via organisations like the International Organization for Migration. As they organise and regulate labour within and beyond their borders, these states reproduce social hierarchies and structures of exploitation in the service of capital. This contradiction of capitalist imperialism with the policy goals of global governance demands a radical approach to migrant solidarity which centres on an internationalist class response and continued pressure for justice in the international system.