I’m happy to announce a new publication by Amanda Bisong, with whom I had the pleasure to collaborate as part of the Swiss Subsaharan Africa Migration Network.
The article looks at how non-state actors are involved in regional migration policy processes in ECOWAS (the Economic Community of West African States). Different types of actors are differentiated: NGO, civil society organizations, academia, and the media, which reminds me very much of the work we do on the politicization of migration elsewhere. Amanda Bisong uses interviews in conjunction with survey results and an extensive analysis of policy documents to demonstrate how spaces are constructed and instrumentalized by different actors. Overall, non-state actors reinforce regional policies and help circumvent restrictive national agendas with innovative regional approaches.
Bisong, Amanda. 2021. “Invented, Invited and Instrumentalised Spaces: Conceptualising Non-State Actor Engagement in Regional Migration Governance in West Africa.” Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 0(0):1–19. doi: 10.1080/1369183X.2021.1972570.
Didier Ruedin 