Handbook on the Governance and Politics of Migration

In this seminar, Regine Paul  will present the  Handbook on the Governance and Politics of Migration (2021, Edward Elgar) which she co-edited. The handbook sets out to critically appraise contemporary migration governance in interdisciplinary, and decidedly global, perspectives. The relationship between governance and migration is understood as mutually constitutive, and thus intrinsically political and contested in the handbook.

At this backdrop  specific concepts used in migration governance such as citizenship, humanitarianism, and border, as well as specific categories of migrants , such as forced, voluntary, skilled worker, or family member,  at specific spaces like camps, routes, homes or work places are addressed.

In her talk, Regine Paul will focus on the Handbook’s conceptual-analytical map. In particular, she will introduce their conceptualization of the governance and politics of migration and discuss how they are constituted from the contradictions between their

1. conceptual framing and material expression
2. global scope and relational practice; and
3. structured form and dynamic changeability.

Paul will illustrate these constitutive contradictions with examples from the Handbook contributions. 

Regine Paul is Associate Professor in Political Science at the Department of Administration and Organization Theory. She has published widely on comparative labour migration and mobility governance in Europe, and on the notions of risk and resilience in policymaking at large. Her current research addresses the uses and regulation of artificial intelligence technologies in the public sector. She is incoming Editor of Critical Policy Studies.