ABSTRACT
The international institutional framework that regulates states’ responses to migration is of a fundamentally different type from the UN-based multilateralism that emerged to regulate other international issues in the immediate aftermath of the Second World War. Although international migration is not new, it has only relatively recently been recognized as a significant global issue that requires a debate on the role of international cooperation (Betts 2011; Ghosh 1999; Hansen 2008; Koslowksi 2009; Martin and Martin 2006). The quantitative growth in international migration has contributed to migration becoming an increasingly politicized and visible issue. Meanwhile, the qualitative change in the nature of migration, with increasing south–south movements and the internationalization of labour markets, has led states to seek cooperative ways to maximize the economic benefits of migration, while minimizing the costs associated with undesirable migration. As with other trans-boundary issue areas, states have increasingly recognized that they are unable to address their concerns with migration in isolation but that forms of collaboration and coordination are necessary.
