Artificial intelligence is reshaping how migration governance is studied and practised. On the one hand, computational and AI-assisted methods—including natural language processing, large language models, and network analysis—offer political scientists powerful tools for analysing multilingual corpora, mapping actor networks, and comparing governance instruments across regions and over time. On the other hand, AI is increasingly deployed by states, international organizations, and agencies as an instrument of migration and border control through predictive risk profiling, automated decision-making in asylum procedures, biometric surveillance, and algorithmic migration management. These two dimensions—AI as a research methodology and AI as an instrument of governance—require closer examination, as they raise interconnected questions about power, legitimacy, bias, transparency, and accountability that demand comparative and interdisciplinary dialogue.
The panel invites contributions addressing either dimension or their intersection.
AI as a research tool: How can comparative and AI-assisted approaches deepen our understanding of contemporary border and migration governance without displacing contextual interpretation or critical scrutiny? Relevant topics include NLP and text analysis—such as topic modelling, Named Entity Recognition, and sentiment analysis—applied to migration governance corpora; LLM-assisted document classification and information extraction; network analysis of institutional actors and governance instruments; mixed-methods designs integrating computational and qualitative approaches; and original datasets and open-access research infrastructures.
AI as a governance instrument: Contributions may examine automated decision-making and algorithmic tools in asylum and border procedures; predictive policing and risk-scoring systems; biometric technologies and surveillance infrastructures; the political and legal accountability of algorithmic border control; and the growing role of private actors and technology companies in migration management.
AI at the intersection: Papers may address the ethical and epistemological implications of using AI to investigate AI-governed phenomena; the ways algorithmic migration systems shape knowledge, categories, and research data; and comparative perspectives on the adoption, contestation, and regulation of AI across different border regimes.
Contributions may examine any regional context and draw on political science, sociology, law, migration and border studies, or science and technology studies. Theoretical, empirical, and methodological papers are welcome. Critical perspectives addressing the limitations and risks of AI in both research and governance, including implications for rights and accountability, are particularly encouraged.
