Abstract

Do states in the Global South learn from each other regarding the management of forced migration? Although research has shown that refugees have recently been recast as an economic benefit for non-Western host states, little scholarly work exists on whether and how such a normative change is adopted across regions. In this article, we identify the diffusion of refugee rent-seeking behaviour, namely the use of host states’ geopolitical position as leverage to extract revenue from other states in exchange for maintaining refugees within their borders. We identify three types of diffusion – learning, cooperation and emulation – occurring at state, regional and international levels across the Global South. Drawing on a range of primary sources, we demonstrate the working of these three types across a range of empirical examples drawn from the Middle East, sub-Saharan Africa and South America. Overall, we identify a rising trend in the commodification of forced migration across refugee rentier states, while highlighting the need for further interregional research on policy diffusion outside the Global North.

摘要

全球南方国家是否在管理强迫移民方面相互学习？尽管研究表明难民最近被重新定义为非西方东道国的经济利益，但关于是否以及如何跨地区采用这种规范变化的学术研究很少。在本文中，我们确定了难民寻租行为的扩散，即利用东道国的地缘政治地位作为杠杆，从其他国家获取收入以换取将难民留在其境内。我们确定了三种类型的传播——学习、合作和模仿——发生在全球南方的州、地区和国际层面。借鉴一系列主要来源，我们通过来自中东、撒哈拉以南非洲和南美洲的一系列经验示例来展示这三种类型的工作原理。总体而言，我们确定了跨越难民食利者国家的强迫移民商品化的上升趋势，同时强调需要对全球北方以外的政策扩散进行进一步的区域间研究。