International Organization for Migration in the field: ‘walking the talk’ of global migration management in Manila

Abstract

ABSTRACTThis paper contributes to the growing literature on the political economy of migration management. Based on ethnographic research in Manila in 2016, we explore the contradictory entrepreneurial character of IOM Philippines in its multi-stranded global migration management activities. As a major labour export country with a history of fractious politics over state reliance on migration, partly in response to neoliberalisation, the Philippines represents an ideal field site for examining triple-win migration and development scenarios. By way of example, we analyse how IOM’s global mission is represented in pre-departure programming for select visa-ready migrants destined for Canada. Such sessions occur in an increasingly competitive environment and exemplify the rescaling of migration management initiatives concerned to gain maximum advantage from labour export and import (for states and capital), while grooming a disciplined migrant labour force. On Canada’s part, neoliberalisation and just-in-time immigration priorities seek greater efficiencies from duly disciplined migrant arrivals. Here, we see the IOM’s signature history of protection and aid for vulnerable and displaced persons maintained in tension with its facilitating role in perpetuating the structured inequalities of global capitalism. IOM’s entrepreneurial activities in the governance gaps and market places of migration are, we argue, best summed up as labour brokerage by another name.