Cosmopolitan Civil Societies: An Interdisciplinary Journal

Navigating the Bermuda Triangle: Exploring the Relationship between Migration Scholarship and Migration Governance

Felicitas Hillmann, Luisa Veronis — Mon, 31 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +1100

In this introduction to the special issue on migration research and governance, we identify three key issues at the heart of current migration discourses: a range of normative and ethical assumptions, the transnational dynamics of migration, and the challenges of domestic policymaking. We argue that these intertwined dimensions create a complex ‘Bermuda Triangle’ where good intentions often falter and migrants themselves bear the greatest risks. Migration represents both a political and academic minefield with implications for policy outcomes. Through the nine contributions in this issue, we demonstrate how interdisciplinary perspectives and diverse stakeholder engagement offer pathways out of this impasse. Drawing on insights from the nups-network, we organize these contributions around three themes: addressing global challenges such as climate change and technology, examining the machinery of migration governance systems in different regional contexts and at different scales, and highlighting promising practises for research-policy dialogue and collaboration.

Coming to Terms with Deep Uncertainty in the Study of Climate-Related Displacement

Robert McLeman — Mon, 31 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +1100

On average, an estimated 20 million people each year are displaced by climate-related hazards. This number will increase in coming years due to global warming, sea level rise, and rapid population growth in areas highly exposed to floods, storms and droughts. Future levels of displacement will depend on future greenhouse gas emissions, future development trajectories in low- and middle-income countries, and future government migration and mobility policies. Given the rapidity of atmospheric change, there are likely also ‘unknown unknowns’ factors that could cause unexpectedly large and/or sudden displacements. This article reviews what scholars know about how climate affects displacement; what is known or suspected but important data are lacking; and other considerations that are understood poorly or not presently observable. Particular attention is given to reflecting on how scholars can advance research on climate-related displacement under conditions of deep uncertainty, with suggestions on ways to shed light on ‘unknown unknowns’.

Trading Efficiency for Control: the AI Conundrum in Migration Management

Gianluca Iazzolino — Mon, 31 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +1100

This paper contributes to the discussions on AI initiatives applied to migration management by drawing attention to critical issues in the AI systems field. It suggests a research agenda to investigate how AI-generated insights inform policies and how ideologies are reflected into policies and shape AI deployments. Specifically, this paper leverages the data justice and algorithmic accountability debates to examine two application of AI systems. The first, based on predictive AI, aims at supporting governments and humanitarian organisations in estimating timing, destination and size of refugee inflows. The second application refers to Natural Language Processing (NLP) and to the integration of voice and speech recognition within a broader repertoire of techniques to automate immigration systems. The paper finally suggests that to better harness the analytical power of AI, AI systems must be recognised as inherently political, in the sense that they enshrine a specific view of power and relations of subordination.

Informal Employment and Inequality: Implications for Migration in Sub-Saharan Africa

Rashidat Akande , Hauwah AbdulKareem, Sodiq Jimoh, Taofeekat Nofiu — Mon, 31 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +1100

A sizable level of informal employment, often stemming from social disparities and limited economic opportunities, can have great implications for migration in Sub-Sahara Africa. Similarly, inequality, particularly unequal access to economic resources in the formal sector, can serve as a key driver for migration as people seek better opportunities. Therefore, this study investigates the individual impact of the size of informal employment and inequality on migration within the region by examining the individual effects of informal employment and inequality as well as their interactive effect on migration. Utilizing System GMM method of analysis, the study examined the data from 43 Sub-Saharan African countries from 2009 to 2022. The findings suggest that both informal employment and inequality positively influence migration flows in the region. Additionally, the analysis shows that the interaction between informal employment and inequality exerts a negative effect on migration flow.

(Im)mobility and Environmental Change in the Coastal Sinking Cities of Java, Indonesia

Mon, 31 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +1100

Environmental degradation induced by climate change disturbs livelihoods and is, therefore, a critical issue in policy and academic discourses on immobility. This paper aims to investigate experiences of immobility in three coastal areas within Indonesian cities of varying adaptive capacities, with a focus on women who represent vulnerable people whose role can be attributed to policies and governance. We adopted a qualitative methodological approach, combining ethnography and utilizing in-depth interviews with a total of 60 respondents, and roundtable discussions representing various stakeholders. Three locations, i.e., Muara Angke, Tambak Lorok, Panjang Wetan, were selected because the residents experience immobility despite massive environmental pressures. Direct and indirect adaptive capacities can lead to more equitable opportunities for residents to choose between staying or moving out and thereby may promote increased mobility justice. We highlight ways in which policy and political governance can better support impacted areas and invest in capacity-building among at-risk populations.

The Challenges of Immigrant Policy Formation in Trinidad and Tobago: A Civil Society Perspective

Shelly Ann Tirbanie, Michał Pawiński — Tue, 11 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +1100

In 2019, the government of Trinidad and Tobago (T&T) embarked on a Venezuelan Registration Exercise with over 16,000 Venezuelan nationals registered. The migratory flows such as the present experience have highlighted the weaknesses in the existing national policy framework of T&T. The inclusion of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) in the process of policy formation has been limited, while communication with governmental stakeholders to solve the challenges has been underwhelming. The present study conducted interviews with 12 CSOs in T&T with the objective of identifying the challenges they face in forming and implementing migrant policy, their experiences with political stakeholders, and their expectations of future collaboration. The research findings propose the need for the Civil Society Network in T&T and the Caribbean region to address the escalating migratory crisis.

The Importance of Thinking In-Place with ‘Vulnerable’ Neighbourhoods for Policy Making

Natasha A. Webster, Esther Veen, Sofi Johansson — Tue, 11 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +1100

Big data are increasingly being used to understand complex social and economic challenges. While there is much to be learned from such approaches, in-place data remain necessary for a multidimensional understanding of neighbourhoods, and for sustainable and socially just policies. Rather than reinforcing methodological divides, the argument we set forth in this paper is that multiple forms and strands of inquiry illuminate complexities of space, place and community. Decision makers should consider how and why they may privilege certain forms of data, and instead tap into diversified ways of knowing. We reflect on the challenges and opportunities of crafting in-place data as a relational process integral for decision makers and policymaking. To do so, we discuss two case studies in Sweden and The Netherlands that demonstrate the importance of widening the scope of knowledge, and a willingness to decentre singularity and homogenous definitions of community and place.

Immigrant Inclusion and Municipalism in a Danish Context

Mashudu Salifu, Martin Bak Jørgensen — Mon, 31 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +1100

This paper explores municipalism in a Danish context. The notion of municipalism has over the last decade gained both renewed academic traction and developed as a political practice, especially in a Southern European context. Within this framework, municipalities have sought to develop alternative policy frameworks targeting societal challenges such as climate change, sustainability, diversity and also immigrant inclusion and integration. These pathways to inclusion frequently challenge the often restrictive national policy frameworks. However, current investigations of municipalism also argue that we have seen the peak of this kind of framework and identify less room for manoeuvre on the local level in terms of developing approaches different to the national ones. This paper asks if we can identify municipalism in a Danish context, what may have shaped such relations, and discusses its potential and limitations. It draws on interviews with politicians and civil servants in three larger Danish cities.

Communicating Science for Migration Policy: Refugee Protection in Germany 2015 and 2022

Katja Patzwaldt, Andreas Ette — Mon, 31 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +1100

The relationship between researchers and policymakers has never been straightforward when it comes to using the best evidence to solve societal problems. This paper examines this relationship by analysing two major refugee events in Germany: the arrival of Middle Eastern refugees in 2015 and Ukrainian refugees in 2022. Using communication theories, we analyze how policymakers engaged with scientific research and the institutional mechanisms that facilitated or hindered knowledge transfer. Based on policy document analysis and expert interviews, we identify key differences in policy responses across both events. In 2015, scientific evidence was sparse, and policymakers primarily relied on legal perspectives. By contrast, in 2022, a well-developed research infrastructure allowed for a more immediate integration of empirical scientific insights into policy. However, political and institutional selectivity in processing evidence persisted. Our findings highlight the need for closer collaboration between researchers and policymakers and improved mechanisms for translating scientific knowledge into policy.

Commentary: Enhancing Immigration Policy Through Research

Howard Duncan — Mon, 31 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +1100

This commentary is about the ways in which research can enhance policy making. It opens with a broad discussion of the relationship between research and policy as many have traditionally conceived it, often through the metaphor of a policy cycle into which research is inserted at various points of the cycle. The idea of a policy cycle regards the relationship between research and policy in epistemic terms and arguably represents not a description of how policy is in fact made but stands as a rational reconstruction of the policy process. From here, we move to a more socio-psychological approach to how policy is made and how it is that research is used. Flowing from this, I offer ideas for how researchers can establish effective working relations with policy makers, especially those in governments. In the second half of the paper, some of these ideas are illustrated through the Metropolis Project with a focus on its deployment in Canada, which attempted several innovations in this regard, followed by some reflections on the International Metropolis Project.