1st Edition

The Migration Industry and the Commercialization of International Migration

    320 Pages 4 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    306 Pages 4 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    Migration has become business, big business. Over the last few decades a host of new business opportunities have emerged that capitalize both on the migrants’ desires to migrate and the struggle by governments to manage migration. From the rapid growth of specialized transportation and labour immigration companies, to multinational companies managing detention centres or establishing border security, to the organized criminal networks profiting from human smuggling and trafficking, we are currently witnessing a growing commercialization of international migration.

    This volume claims that today it is almost impossible to speak of migration without also speaking of the migration industry. Yet, acknowledging the role the migration industry plays prompts a number of questions that have so far received only limited attention among scholars and policy makers. The book offers new concepts and theory for the study of international migration by bringing together cross-disciplinary theoretical explorations and original case studies. It also provides a global coverage of the phenomena under study, covering migrant destinations in Europe, the United States and Asia, and migrant sending regions in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

    Introduction Ninna Nyberg Sørensen and Thomas Gammeltoft-Hansen  1. Conceptualizing the Migration Industry Rubén Hernández-León  2. The Migration Industry in Global Migration Governance Alexander Betts  3. Migration Trajectories and the Migration Industry: Theoretical Reflections and Empirical Examples from Asia Ernst Spaan and Felicitas Hillmann  4. The Migration Industry and Development States in East Asia Kristin Surak  5. The Neoliberalized State and the Growth of the Migration Industry Georg Menz 6. The Rise of the Private Border Guard: Governance and Accountability in the Involvement of Non-State Actors in Migration Management  Thomas Gammeltoft-Hansen  7. Private Security Companies and the European Borderscapes Martin Lemberg-Pedersen  8. Pusher Stories: Ghanaian Connection men and the Expansion of the EU’s Border Regimes into Africa Hans Lucht  9. Document Falsifiers and Travel Agents: Producing the Migrant Subject in Peru Ulla Berg and Carla Tamagno  10. Public Officials and the Migration Industry in Guatemala: Greasing the Wheels of a Corrupt Machine Isabel Rosales Sandoval  11. Migration between Social and Criminal Networks: Jumping the Remains of the Honduran Migration Train Ninna Nyberg Sørensen

    Biography

    Thomas Gammeltoft-Hansen is a Senior Researcher at the Danish Institute for International Studies and External Lecturer in refugee law at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark. His research focuses on refugee and human rights law, migration management and state governance.

    Ninna Nyberg Sørensen is a Senior Researcher at the Danish Institute for International Studies in Copenhagen, Denmark. Her primary research interest is in transnational migration, the consequences of international migration on developing countries, and gender.