“Migration is one of the world’s key global challenges. It is important now and without any shadow of a doubt it will be important in the future. We need to know more about how key individuals within governance systems, key institutions and organisations understand the issue of international migration, because by developing an understanding of this question we can contribute to debates about better responses in the future both at state level and at international level.” (MIGPROSP project leader, Professor Andrew Geddes)
Prospects for International Migration Governance (MIGPROSP) is a five year project funded by the European Research Council Advanced Grants scheme awarded to Professor Geddes, Chair in Migration Studies, Director, Migration Policy Centre, European University Institute.
What are MIGPROSP’s main aims?
The MIGPROSP project begins from a relatively simple idea: we know quite a lot about why people move and we also know quite a lot about the legal and policy responses in the places to which they move. We know less about how people within these governance systems (politicians, officials and a range of other actors) understand international migration and how these understandings shape the possibilities and limits of migration governance.
The MIGPROSP project’s main aim is to know more about what could be called the ‘micro-political’ foundations that shape the context of choice for individuals within migration governance systems. The project then asks how this context of choice influences and shapes the capacity of governance systems to respond now and in the future to the challenges associated with international migration. Or put more simply, how do actors within these systems understand international migration? How susceptible are these understandings to change? And what do these understandings and possible change in them mean now and in the future for the governance of international migration at state, regional and international levels?
The MIGPROSP project will focus in particular on Europe, North America, South America and the Asia-Pacific region because of the significant variations in migration governance within these regions.
The first MIGPROSP Research Briefing is available. To download a copy, click here.
