ABSTRACT
International migration is a highly relevant policy field. Over the last three decades it has witnessed a growing involvement of intergovernmental organisations (IGOs). Focusing on the International Organization for Migration (IOM), this chapter advances existing assumptions concerning migration politics and the role of states, IGOs and other actors. It discusses how the concept of ‘migration management’ (an ideational concept created in the 1990s) came to serve the IOM in taking a global lead in migration politics. Migration management has materialised into a tool-based approach, marketed and implemented by the IOM worldwide. As a result, the IOM has become an indispensable organisation which, as this chapter argues, is able to act as a supplementary hegemon in global, regional and even national migration politics. While the IOM as of yet does not replace states and does not contest the existing international order, it is already powerful enough to exercise decisive influence in migration politics. The chapter points out the example of the IOM fostering new alliances, including with China, in a shifting global order, not exclusive to migration politics. The chapter concludes by discussing future scenarios for the IOM as well as global migration politics.
