ABSTRACT
We are drawn to an analysis of the ideology of temporary labour migration because we are interested in interrogating the common premises underlying current conversations about temporary labour migration. We aim for an understanding of the function of certain concepts that form the core of the central questions about temporary labour migration programmes, regardless of one’s position about whether these programmes work well. We have identified three concepts central to most analyses of temporary migration policies and programmes: temporariness, the labour market and rights. Our central contention is that these concepts function ideologically, and as such they constrain innovation with regard to
1. Introduction Temporary labour migration has become intellectually topical once again. Slightly behind renewed government interest in temporary labour migration on a global level, migration scholars are now showing renewed interest in the area (e.g. Castles 20 6, 741; Martin 20 6; Vetrovec 20 7; Carens 2010; Rosewarne 2010; Zapata-Barrero, Fau´ndez Garcıa, and Sa´nchez-Montijano 2012). In this es ay, we explore the potential of these two movements, by states and by scholars, to yield different outcomes than earlier dialogues surrounding European guest-worker programmes in the 1970s and 1980s. By lo king at key ideological elements of temporary labour migration, we as es the potential for an alternative trajectory for understanding and reframing the discus ion in terms that are capable of responding in a more emancipatory way to the lived experiences of migrant workers.
