Migration management, global migration governance, and the case of the International Organization for Migration's assisted voluntary return and reintegration programming

Weinert, MatthewThis dissertation examines the increasingly important role of migration management programming for migration governance. The dissertation applies the concepts of power and authority to the International Organization for Migration (IOM) as a key organization involved in migration management programming and, more importantly, as an actor actively participating in the structuring and altering of migrant flows. Through a careful analysis of one migration management program type, that of IOM-managed assisted voluntary return and reintegration (AVRR), this dissertation explores both the rapid rise in the popularity of that type of programming in states in Europe and, increasingly, North Africa, as well as the nature of IOM management of AVRR in states which have authorized the programming type. In-depth interviews with IOM officials in offices in Geneva as well as in local IOM offices reveal an intra-organizational cohesion which contributes to the power and authority of the organization as related to AVRR programming, and this in turn is linked in the dissertation to the pursuit of wider organizational goals. The IOM has become a key source of power and authority in the pursuit of global forms of migration governance, and this is discussed with the aim of bringing the study of migration management programming into closer contact with global governance and global migration governance literatures. ☐ This dissertation fills gaps in the existing literature by discussing in more explicit ways the links between power and authority and migration management; by discussing with more empirical detail the rise of assisted voluntary return and reintegration programming EU states; and by demonstrating intra-organizational messaging consistency on AVRR and migration governance more generally. The dissertation also contributes new empirical data with regard to IOM-managed AVRR programming in Cyprus, Malta, and Greece.University of Delaware, Department of Political Science and International RelationsPh.D