1 1. The governance and politics of migration: a conceptual-analytical map Emma Carmel, Katharina Lenner and Regine Paul INTRODUCTION The mobility of people is a commonplace of the contemporary world. Nor is this really a new or radically exceptional phenomenon. Migration for trade; for raids, conquest and settlement; for cultural exchange and learning; for enforced labour, and from conflict, have been integral to the development of human history. Nonetheless, the form, patterns, and experiences of such migrations – as well as conceptions and appreciations of them – have varied by time and place. And political and governmental action have always been central to this variation. At the time of writing, governments around the world have extended and intensified their strategies of mobility control in response to the global COVID-19 pandemic. Exclusion and expulsion are partnered with immobilisation in new ways, and gain new justifications, for the supposed pro- tection of health and economic development. Long-settled policies for labour migrants have been overturned in weeks or even days. These measures, and their consequences, challenge the social and economic infrastructure across and between global North and South. They highlight the integral role played by migrant workers in health, care, food production, waste and trans- port systems, as well as the expendability of migrants in the face of other political priorities. The possibility, practice and experience of migration is closely related to the efforts of public authorities to prevent, encourage or channel it. This includes attempts to ‘import’ or ‘export’ labour (e.g. Cohen 2006; Piore 1979); to use emigrants as resources in domestic economic and political projects (e.g. Boccagni et al. 2016; Weinar 2019); or to define who counts as unwanted and thus ‘illegal’ (e.g. Chavez 2007). In turn, the possibility, practice and experience of governance is closely related to how public authorities conceptualise and act on migration as part of population management within their territories (Bhambra 2017; Foucault, 2007). After all, governing (specifically defined) peoples in (specifically defined) places is integral to collective rule and ideas of modern statehood (Torpey 2000; more generally, see Jessop 2016). And the politics of collective rule is integral to determining which peoples are governed in which places, and in what ways. This central duality of migration governance underpins this volume: that understanding governance sheds light on the specific forms and processes of migration, and that under- standing migration sheds light on specific forms and processes of governance. This duality, however, is not a fixed relationship, but one that varies by time and place. It is also not confined to formal government action and institutions. Organising who moves when, where, how and why, are central preoccupations for local and transnational public authorities. But they are also affected by the actions of NGOs, trade unions, technology companies and banks, and every kind of employer from global South to global North. Policy, legal and institutional innovations often follow in the wake of migrations, whether they are to selectively mobilise and immobilise specific people; to induce development; and/or to enhance territorial claims Emma Carmel, Katharina Lenner and Regine Paul - 9781788117234 Downloaded from Elgar Online at 04/05/2022 09:49:23AM via free access