KASARINLAN: Call for Papers

Migration (Vol. 22, No. 2, 2007)

Although the phenomenon of migration is not new, the movement of people from third world societies to more developed countries has increased in magnitude and pervasiveness in the last decades—part of the so-called globalization of migration. Transnational movements of people are expected to continue due to persistent economic and political uncertainties in less developed countries as a result of many factors: destabilization due to ethnic strife and civil wars in the post-cold war era; the persistence of poverty and deepening of economic inequality on a global scale; and the unabated population growth, dysfunctional urbanization and deteriorating environmental conditions in the third world.

Moreover, internal conflicts in various parts of the globe have exacerbated the phenomenon of forced migration or refugees. The issue of forced migration brings to the fore the conflict between the efforts of sovereign states to protect their boundaries vis-à-vis the human rights of the refugees, leading to hotly contested debates about the future character of migration management systems. These issues are not merely of empirical or policy interest. They also draw attention to core theoretical debates on issues which are at the heart of national and international politics—such as that on citizenship, the resilience of sovereignty, and the structural consequences of a rapidly globalizing economy. Migrant trafficking and its implication on national and regional security is another issue that has to be analyzed. Transnational migration has likewise brought about the resurgence of neo-nationalism and right-wing political groups opposed to the entry and settlement of migrants in relatively more prosperous countries.

This special issue of Kasarinlan focuses on key issues of debate on migration including recent theoretical formulations on the subject. The general topics of the special issue may include, but are not limited to, the following: migratory sending contexts: micro, meso and macro levels; migration, globalization and development; means and modes of migration; migration, integration and social change; the migration-asylum nexus; the impacts of migration on receiving and sending societies; migration control and management regimes; and migrant NGOs and their increasing transnational character.

This issue of the journal will have three main sections: scholarly articles, shorter debate pieces, and reviews. There will be six refereed articles, selected for their relevance to the theoretical and empirical issues of the theme. The debate section will focus on a controversial policy issue: Should governments encourage migration?. The review section will contain reviews of books which are judged to have a particular importance for the concerns of the special issues as well as feature reviews which will focus on a particular debate.

Interested contributors can submit their articles directly to kasarinlan@up.edu.ph. The paper should at the least include: an abstract of between 250 and 300 words with keywords, a clear argument of the paper, theoretical background, and conclusion.