Tsourapas, Gerasimos. 2021. Migration diplomacy in the Middle East and North Africa: Power, mobility and the state. Manchester University Press: Manchester. pp. 192.
| Published date | 01 August 2022 |
| Author | Victoria Finn |
| Date | 01 August 2022 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/imig.13020 |
International Migration. 2022;60:231–233.
|
231
wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/imig
Received: 14 Apri l 2022
|
Accepted: 17 April 20 22
DOI: 10 .1111/imig .13020
BOOK REVIEW
Tsourapas, Gerasimos. 2021. Migration diplomacy
in the Middle East and North Africa: Power,
mobility and the state. Manchester University
Press: Manchester. pp. 192.
The newest book by G erasimos Tsoura pas (2021) further establishes him as a go- to theoretical and empirical
source on migrati on diplomacy and the pol itics of migration. The bo ok investigates what role cro ss- border mobil-
ity takes in states’ diplomati c strategies and how it plays out in practice. While the case studies comprise countri es
in the Middle East a nd North Afr ica from 1952 onwar ds, the book also brings in ‘Global No rth’ perspec tives on
permanent migration and state- led strategies to deflect asylum seekers in order to keep refugees in the ‘Global
South’.
Migration diploma cy is distinct from migration management (or governance) since it lies at the intersect ion of a
state's migration an d refugee policies and their fo reign po licy. It ent ails how st ates use di plomat ic tools, p rocesse s
and procedures to manage inter national human mobility, as well as how states leverage migrati on to achieve other
aims. Strategie s can change at the drop of a hat , with immediate effec ts on interstate confl ict or cooperation and
on individual mi grants.
Given th e difficult y of access to, and accuracy of, information in authoritaria n contexts, the data collection
shows an extraordina ry feat, once again positioning Tsourapas as an innovative and skilled resear cher. Statistics of
migration flows and visa numbers comple ment the main sources of information from, a) expert and elite interviews
with mini sters, high- ranking government officials and international organizations, and b) major newspapers and
media reporting on the politics of migration and foreign policy, which required impressive attention to detail over
a large amount of documents across time and space. The data allow him to demonstrate that Migration States in
the Global South offer lessons since they can challen ge, confirm and nuance concepts and theories stemming from
the Global Nor th (Adamson & Tsourapas, 2020).
After the intr oduction, Chapter 1 ou tlines major concepts a nd relevant literature. I t directs readers’ at tention
to the differences of studyin g the Middle East and North Africa versus democrat ic contexts, in terms of data avail-
abi lity and acc urac y, as we ll as ap proa ches to migr atio n and fo reign polic y. Key co ncep ts an d deci sion- makin g driv -
ers are explained, suc h as regime security, state relations with socie ty and the diaspora, coercion and str ategies of
leverage. Thereaf ter, the brief Chapter 2 sets the regional and countr y contexts to grasp the patterns and relations
throughout the Ara b world since the 1950s. The following four chap ters each develop an argument, based on data
primarily on A lgeria, Egypt, Jord an, Libya, Morocco and Tunisia, as wel l as the Gulf.
Tsourapas d edicates one c hapter to each of hi s four proposi tions but toget her they form th e analytica l frame-
work, em erging as a novel contribution of how auth oritarian st ates use labou r and forced migration to g ain po-
litical powe r and other benef its. As a firs t proposition, Cha pter 3 explains how states use migran ts as bargaining
chips, conceptuali zing the ‘migrant’ as a subject of power. The rights- versus- duties relation favours the latter since
the st ates under s tudy send a nd recall i ndividuals acros s borders, as they dee m convenient. S econd, Chapter 4
elaborates on how aut horitarian reg imes prioritize security in their stat e- diaspora approache s and intera ctions.
© 2022 The Auth ors. Internation al Migration © 2022 IO M
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