Refugee Protection Meets Migration Management: UNHCR as a Global Police of Populations

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Refugee Protection Meets Migration Management: UNHCR as a Global Police of Populations. / Scheel, Stephan; Ratfisch, Philipp.
In: Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, Vol. 40, No. 6, 03.06.2014, p. 924-941.

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@article{dc423804636843b9a60a187f3a381498,
title = "Refugee Protection Meets Migration Management: UNHCR as a Global Police of Populations",
abstract = "This article investigates the complex relationship between the practices of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in the field of refugee protection and the more recent political rationality of 'migration management' by drawing from governmentality studies. It is argued that the dissemination of UNHCR's own refugee protection discourse creates certain 'figures of migration' allowing for justifying the build-up and perfection of border controls, which in turn enable any attempt to 'manage' migration in the first place. Conversely, the problematisation of population movements as 'mixed migration flows' allows UNHCR to enlarge its field of activitiy despite its narrow mandate by actively participating in the promotion, planning and implementation of migration management systems. Based on ethnographic research in Turkey and Morocco, this article demonstrates, furthermore, that UNHCR's refugee protection discourse and the emerging migration management paradigm are both based on a methodological nationalism, share an authoritarian potential and yield de-politicising effects. What UNHCR's recent embracing of the migration management paradigm together with its active involvement in respective practices then brings to the fore is that UNHCR is part of a global police of populations.",
keywords = "Migration Policy, Morocco, Refugees and Asylum, Turkey, UNHCR, Sociology",
author = "Stephan Scheel and Philipp Ratfisch",
year = "2014",
month = jun,
day = "3",
doi = "10.1080/1369183X.2013.855074",
language = "English",
volume = "40",
pages = "924--941",
journal = "Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies",
issn = "1369-183X",
publisher = "Routledge Taylor & Francis Group",
number = "6",

}

RIS

TY - JOUR

T1 - Refugee Protection Meets Migration Management

T2 - UNHCR as a Global Police of Populations

AU - Scheel, Stephan

AU - Ratfisch, Philipp

PY - 2014/6/3

Y1 - 2014/6/3

N2 - This article investigates the complex relationship between the practices of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in the field of refugee protection and the more recent political rationality of 'migration management' by drawing from governmentality studies. It is argued that the dissemination of UNHCR's own refugee protection discourse creates certain 'figures of migration' allowing for justifying the build-up and perfection of border controls, which in turn enable any attempt to 'manage' migration in the first place. Conversely, the problematisation of population movements as 'mixed migration flows' allows UNHCR to enlarge its field of activitiy despite its narrow mandate by actively participating in the promotion, planning and implementation of migration management systems. Based on ethnographic research in Turkey and Morocco, this article demonstrates, furthermore, that UNHCR's refugee protection discourse and the emerging migration management paradigm are both based on a methodological nationalism, share an authoritarian potential and yield de-politicising effects. What UNHCR's recent embracing of the migration management paradigm together with its active involvement in respective practices then brings to the fore is that UNHCR is part of a global police of populations.

AB - This article investigates the complex relationship between the practices of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in the field of refugee protection and the more recent political rationality of 'migration management' by drawing from governmentality studies. It is argued that the dissemination of UNHCR's own refugee protection discourse creates certain 'figures of migration' allowing for justifying the build-up and perfection of border controls, which in turn enable any attempt to 'manage' migration in the first place. Conversely, the problematisation of population movements as 'mixed migration flows' allows UNHCR to enlarge its field of activitiy despite its narrow mandate by actively participating in the promotion, planning and implementation of migration management systems. Based on ethnographic research in Turkey and Morocco, this article demonstrates, furthermore, that UNHCR's refugee protection discourse and the emerging migration management paradigm are both based on a methodological nationalism, share an authoritarian potential and yield de-politicising effects. What UNHCR's recent embracing of the migration management paradigm together with its active involvement in respective practices then brings to the fore is that UNHCR is part of a global police of populations.

KW - Migration Policy

KW - Morocco

KW - Refugees and Asylum

KW - Turkey

KW - UNHCR

KW - Sociology

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84894244962&partnerID=8YFLogxK

UR - https://www.mendeley.com/catalogue/8a732c1b-9042-31a1-932d-db57c70367ab/

U2 - 10.1080/1369183X.2013.855074

DO - 10.1080/1369183X.2013.855074

M3 - Journal articles

AN - SCOPUS:84894244962

VL - 40

SP - 924

EP - 941

JO - Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies

JF - Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies

SN - 1369-183X

IS - 6

ER -