Agency and Immigration Policy
Agency and Immigration Policy
Contributor(s): Simeon S. Magliveras (Editor)
Subject(s): Politics / Political Sciences, Politics, Social Sciences, Civil Society, Governance, Public Administration, Public Law, Sociology, Migration Studies, Geopolitics, Asylum, Refugees, Migration as Policy-fields
Published by: Transnational Press London
Keywords: Agency; Bahrain; immigration agents; immigration policy; Japan; Malaysia; migration; naturalisation; Pontic Greeks, Simeon Magliveras; Singaporean; Sri Lanka; Thailan;
Summary/Abstract: Immigration policy is interesting because seemingly powerless immigrants bare much of the brunt of said policies. Cultural idioms of us/them are unashamedly politicized at the expense of immigrants. Issues such as citizenship, human rights, labor rights, needs for laborer, culture and identity, all are intertwined into immigration policy. Policy, thus, becomes a tool of control and power. Moreover, immigrants and refugees are essentialized in everyday discourse as either hard working labors, or as lazy or immoral groups. They are politicized as barbarous caravans, or simply hordes of otherness. Immigrants are voiceless and at the same time burdened with all the ills of the host society. Much of the time, voices of their contributions are drowned out by the voices of fear and invasion. And this is inadvertently embedded in policy and its interpretations. This book is a selection of work from different places around the globe. It examines immigration and policy from different perspectives. Contributors to this book explore the intention of policies, its causes, and the results of its enactment, to society’s transformation but also it explores the action and agency of the subjects of said policies.
- Print-ISBN-13: 978-1-912997-67-1
- Page Count: 127
- Publication Year: 2020
- Language: English
Understanding Policy in Immigration
Understanding Policy in Immigration
(Understanding Policy in Immigration)
- Author(s):Simeon S. Magliveras
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Civil Society, Governance, Public Administration, Public Law, Migration Studies, Asylum, Refugees, Migration as Policy-fields
- Page Range:1-6
- No. of Pages:6
- Keywords:Policies; social institution; governments; contemporary societies; social; biological; policy; essentialize; cultural norms; ideologies; society;
- Summary/Abstract:Policies have become a form of social institution and are tools which governments use to organize contemporary societies (Shore and Wright 1995) . The intensions and functions of organically formed institutions evolve as the social/biological environment changes through time but, policy in its genesis has specific intensions. Post-modernist thought avoid the nature of policy because it focuses of the individual and the individuals' ability to usurp power structures by avoiding categorization (Kirtsoglou 2004; Butler 2005). However, the nature and purpose of policy is to essentialize and categorize people and define subjects' access to power structures and determine individuals' roles and statuses in society (Shore and Wright 1995; Haines 2013). Thus, individuals are defined, enabled and limited by the categories policy imposes on them (as Citizen, refugee, legal/ illegal immigrant, etc). Thus, deeply embedded in policy are the cultural norms and ideologies, which help us understand power rhetorics and meanings of a society.
- Price: 4.50 €
Criminalized and Vulnerable: Refugees And Asylum Seekers in Thailand and Malaysia
Criminalized and Vulnerable: Refugees And Asylum Seekers in Thailand and Malaysia
(Criminalized and Vulnerable: Refugees And Asylum Seekers in Thailand and Malaysia)
- Author(s):Jera Lego
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Labor relations, Migration Studies, Asylum, Refugees, Migration as Policy-fields
- Page Range:7-28
- No. of Pages:22
- Keywords:Malaysian; labor and immigration policies; refugees; asylum seekers; governments; employ; migrant; migrant workers;
- Summary/Abstract:This chapter examines Thai and Malaysian labor and immigration policies and their implications for the plight of refugees and asylum seekers. It argues that both the Thai and Malaysian governments employ incongruent and ultimately contradictory programs that, on the one hand, aim to utilize and optimize migrant labor for economic gain, motivated by a biopolitical imperative, and, on the other hand, aim to marginalize and criminalize those migrant populations, as motivated by a sovereign compulsion. Migrant labor is thus rendered a transient and disposable resource while serving as a site for performing and asserting the state’s sovereign power. In the absence of national asylum frameworks, refugees and asylum seekers become indistinguishable from undocumented migrant workers upon which the Thai and Malaysian states exercise the right to punish, detain, imprison, and deport. Moreover, refugees and asylum seekers, having no state to be returned to and seek protection from, are at risk of being returned to the same dangers they were fleeing from in the first place.
- Price: 4.50 €
The Japanese Asylum Policies: The Informal Asylum of Syrians in Japan
The Japanese Asylum Policies: The Informal Asylum of Syrians in Japan
(The Japanese Asylum Policies: The Informal Asylum of Syrians in Japan)
- Author(s):Yahya Almasri
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Migration Studies, Asylum, Refugees, Migration as Policy-fields
- Page Range:29-50
- No. of Pages:22
- Keywords:Syrian; conflict; destruction; displacement; crises; World War II.; war; desperate; safety; approximately; horrors; East Asian archipelago;
- Summary/Abstract:The Syrian conflict has caused a massive death toll, destruction, and one of the largest displacement crises since World War II. Since the outbreak of the war, a decade ago, millions of Syrians have embarked on desperate journeys in the hope of restarting their lives in safety. Approximately 6.6million Syrians escaped the horrors of war fleeing to neighboring countries;6.1 million became internally displaced, which is more than half of Syria's population, estimated at 22 million in 2010 (UNHCR 2020). Hundreds of Syrians have settled in Japan, a country with a rigid refugee system that effectively deters both fake and genuine asylum seekers. The refugee recognition rate in Japan has not exceeded 1% since 2011 (Japan Lawyer Network for Refugees 2020). Whether or not it was an informed decision for Syrians to seek protection in the East Asian archipelago, most of them have not applied for refugee status.
- Price: 4.50 €
Making Diaspora Policies Without Knowing The Diaspora? The Case of Sri Lanka
Making Diaspora Policies Without Knowing The Diaspora? The Case of Sri Lanka
(Making Diaspora Policies Without Knowing The Diaspora? The Case of Sri Lanka)
- Author(s):Pavithra Jayawardena
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Governance, Migration Studies, Asylum, Refugees, Migration as Policy-fields
- Page Range:51-71
- No. of Pages:21
- Keywords:diaspora policies; Sri Lanka; diaspora; dual citizenship policy; central diaspora outreach policy; civil war; Sri Lankan; Sri Lankan citizens; government; emigrants; policy;
- Summary/Abstract:Many sending countries around the world are relaxing their diaspora policies day by day. Sri Lanka, a sending country with over one million diaspora members, continues the dual citizenship policy as their central diaspora outreach policy. During the last decade, specifically after the end of the civil war, Sri Lankan dual citizenship policy became a heated topic at the domestic level. I argue that while Sri Lankan citizens who are living in the country and the government became the main entities in dual citizenship debates, Sri Lankan emigrants’ reasons and narratives are often ignored. Since the decisions on dual citizenship are made in absence of accurate knowledge on emigrants’ interests and needs, I argue that the existing Sri Lankan dual citizenship policy is ineffective; hence the need to revisit and reform the policy. The data of this study are gathered through 51 semi-structured interviews with Sri Lankan diaspora members in Australia and New Zealand. The findings suggest a disparity between the governments’ and emigrants’ expectations and interest on dual citizenship; Sri Lankan diaspora members’ interests are more non-instrumental (e.g. sense of belonging) while the government’s interests are more instrumental (e.g. investing).
- Price: 4.50 €
Transiting into the Singaporean Identity: Immigration and Naturalisation Policy
Transiting into the Singaporean Identity: Immigration and Naturalisation Policy
(Transiting into the Singaporean Identity: Immigration and Naturalisation Policy)
- Author(s):Mathews Mathew, Debbie Soon
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Migration Studies, Politics and Identity, Asylum, Refugees, Migration as Policy-fields
- Page Range:73-89
- No. of Pages:17
- Keywords:Singapore; immigration; naturalisation policy; government; unprecedentedly; national identity; independence; Singaporean; post-colonial societies; Southeast Asian; education system;
- Summary/Abstract:Debates in Singapore about immigration and naturalisation policy have escalated substantially since 2008 when the government allowed an unprecedentedly large number of immigrants into the country. While the city-state is essentially a migrant society, brought about through nineteenth century British colonial interests, Singaporeans have gained a heightened sense of national identity in the fifty years since independence. Being “Singaporean” is essentially, as in other post-colonial societies, manufactured through a series of founding myths and shared experiences. Founding myths include the meritocratic nature of the society, very different from its surrounding Southeast Asian nations where patronage, racial superiority and corruption are rife, and the importance of a strong state to ensure that the nation is able to survive against all odds (Rodan, 2004). Shared experiences, such as a gruelling education system, life in high rise and exorbitant public housing, compulsory military service for men and the melange of cultural celebrations and cuisine further define Singaporeans’ identity.
- Price: 4.50 €
Narratives of Trauma Across Generations of Pontic Greeks and Their Impact on National Identity
Narratives of Trauma Across Generations of Pontic Greeks and Their Impact on National Identity
(Narratives of Trauma Across Generations of Pontic Greeks and Their Impact on National Identity)
- Author(s):Georgia Lagoumitzi
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Studies in violence and power, Migration Studies, Politics of History/Memory, Politics and Identity, Identity of Collectives
- Page Range:91-103
- No. of Pages:13
- Keywords:Pontic Greek diaspora; sociology of generations; generation location; generation units; trauma; genocide narratives; identity;
- Summary/Abstract:Karl Mannheim’s 1928 essay ‘The Problem of Generations’ introduced a unique perspective on the dynamic development of social relations, social knowledge and social action. In this essay, he maintained that simple generational separation performed by positivist demographers on the basis of simple biological facts was meaningless. Instead, he defined a generation in terms of distinct collective experiences of given age groups, which stamp those age groups with a permanent separate identity. These experiences, in turn, give a new meaning to both, individual (subjective) and historical (objective) time. Mannheim distinguished between the ‘generation location’, actual generations comprised of individuals bound together by a common destiny, and the ‘generation unit’, establishing in this way the dialectical relationship between history and subjective knowledge. The conceptualization of diaspora as a ‘narrative of displacement’ provides the opportunity to assess the impact of such traumatic experiences on the separate ‘generation units’ among Pontic Greeks. Sharing the experience of successive displacements from the Ottoman Empire to Russia, from Caucasus to Kazakhstan under the Stalinist regime, and finally from the ex-Soviet Union to Greece in the wake of the 1989 Revolutions, they constitute an ideal-typical group for the study of the way in which different generations perceive a common past and face new challenges. Moreover, we explore the mediating role of genocide narratives in the perception of trauma and suffering by different generation units and their impact on their diasporic identity. In doing so, we affirm Stuart Hall’s interpretation of “identities… [as] projects and practices, not properties. Finally, we assess the importance of diasporic memory for the nation.
- Price: 4.50 €
Immigration Agents in Bahrain: An Exploration of the Immigration Policy Nexus
Immigration Agents in Bahrain: An Exploration of the Immigration Policy Nexus
(Immigration Agents in Bahrain: An Exploration of the Immigration Policy Nexus)
- Author(s):Simeon S. Magliveras
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Migration Studies, Asylum, Refugees, Migration as Policy-fields
- Page Range:105-117
- No. of Pages:13
- Keywords:agency; immigration; policy; P-policy nexus; Philippines; Bahrain;
- Summary/Abstract:This chapter explores the complex policy nexus, as described in the introduction to this book, to explain how transnational agents and immigration policy coexist. The study examines the actions of these various actors by scrutinizing the motivations of such agents who on the surface may appear to be motivated simply out of hopelessness or greed. Their actions are not so straight forward. The chapter focuses on a Filipina guest worker and her employer as agents in Bahrain within a complex immigration policy nexus. This work more generally illustrates that subjects of immigration policy are not are not merely moveable pawns of powerful states or mere units of production at the will of their employers. This chapter suggests that in actuality, they are agents who effect and are affected but their environments who make active choices within the system to reach their objectives as transnationals. This chapter finally suggests that immigration policy nexus and actions of the actors affect how policy becomes an agent of its own consequence.
- Price: 4.50 €