Key Concepts, Theory, and the Emergence of Global Migration Governance

Abstract

Chapter 2 of this book addresses key concepts and theory relevant to this research, as well as the emergence of the global migration governance. It first discusses how actors other than states have emerged in the international governance system and how they are conceptualized in international relations theory (section 2.1). Second, it addresses how the international governance of migration has evolved and how the GCM fits into that governance (section 2.2). In this section, the author clusters the emergence of a global governance about migration in five phases: the early stages of building norms and institutions (1919–1989); the post-cold war era and the early 2000s, where conversations, new approaches, and stocktaking took place at the global level; the era of migration and development (2006–2015); the set-up of a new architecture for global migration governance with the New York Declaration, and the Global Compacts on Migration and on Refugees; and the current (and insecure) period for implementation, review and follow-up. This chapter also defines NSAs and local authorities, arguing that researchers must be distinct about the types of actors they are investigating (section 2.3)