Migration, regional integration and social transformation: A North–South comparative approach

Abstract

Migration flows, regional integration and social transformation are increasingly interlinked. This article seeks to provide some clarification of these processes through a global North–South comparative approach. The authors problematize regional integration and regionalization but also the legal or rights-based approach to migration, now emerging as the dominant progressive paradigm. They propose a social transformation perspective that foregrounds the role of social movements – in this case the trade unions – in relation to migration in a regional context. This would pose an alternative form of promoting the cause of migrant workers within a mobilizing perspective which prioritizes the agency of non-state actors such as trade unions. In brief, migrants can be viewed from a citizenship optic and as bearers of individual rights but also, the authors propose, as workers who can organize collectively to pursue their objectives.