‘We’re an Organization that Does Stuff’: The International Organization for Migration, Logistics and Expert Authority in Migration Governance

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article advances accounts of expertise as a source of power in migration governance by examining how the International Organization for Migration (IOM) has cultivated authority as a logistical expert. Analyses of expert authority in global governance have traditionally focused on the production and control of information, particularly research and data. In contrast, this study demonstrates that logistical expertise was pivotal to the organisation’s early successes and long-term survival, and shows how logistical prowess and values associated with the logistical frame – such as efficiency and flexibility – have underpinned IOM’s expansion in significant ways. Drawing on extensive archival research and in-depth interviews, the article traces how IOM’s logistical operations have diversified over time, from interventions explicitly intended to facilitate the movement of (selected) migrants to a contemporary focus on a much wider range of activities such as humanitarian aid, returns, and data collection, that apply logistical techniques to manage or control mobility. The contribution is two-fold. First, the article advances understanding of IOM as an increasingly influential player in global migration governance by offering a concertedly historicised perspective focused on its logistical activities and identity. Second, by bringing scholarship on expertise and critical logistics into conversation, this work illuminates how logistics functions as a form of expertise, and demonstrates the power, risks and limitations of logistics as a source of expert authority in migration governance.