Migration Politics and Democratic Governance in Uncertain Times

Migration has become a defining axis of political conflict in democracies and beyond. It structures party competition and electoral campaigns, fuels populist and nationalist mobilisation, and increasingly shapes debates about the limits of executive power, the authority of courts and the standing of international law. At the same time, states govern mobility through emergency measures, agreements with third countries, expanding border and surveillance infrastructures, and digital tools whose implications for rights and accountability are only beginning to be understood. This panel asks what these developments mean for democratic governance, and what democratic governance means for migration policy.
We invite contributions on the politics of migration and its institutional consequences, including the politicisation and salience of migration and asylum; public opinion, attitudes, framing and disinformation; party competition, the mainstreaming of restrictive agendas and policy responsiveness; the securitisation of mobility and the instrumentalisation of migrants in inter-state conflict; emergency, crisis and exceptional governance and its effects on the rule of law, judicial oversight, transparency and the protection of rights; and civil society, litigation, protest and the contestation of migration policy.
We are equally interested in the changing international dimension: migration diplomacy, externalisation and cooperation with countries of origin and transit; the erosion or resilience of multilateral frameworks in a multipolar system; regional integration projects and their mobility regimes; and the role of non-state and private actors in delivering, financing and profiting from migration management. Papers on data, biometrics, algorithmic decision-making and artificial intelligence in border control, status determination and integration policy are welcome, particularly those addressing accountability, discrimination and redress.
Theoretical, conceptual, methodological and empirical papers are all welcome, as are single-case, comparative and cross-regional studies from every world region and contributions from early-career researchers.