Migration Security

Migration has recently been framed as a threat to security in many parts of the world. Numerous advanced industrial states have in fact, securitized migration by implementing measures to control and even extend external borders, through increased policing and financial contributions to neighbouring countries that are linked to migration control strategies. This process has led to the spread of formal and informal regionalization strategies in migration affairs. However, levels and types of securitization of migration reflect different perspectives on regional integration. This chapter compares migration governance in Europe and Asia and illustrates how relatively uniform regionalization in Europe has led to institutionalized responses promoting securitization whereas the divergent bottom-up approach to regionalism in Asia has resulted in significant policy variation amongst Asian states. Consequently, Asia’s seeming patchwork response differs from the European Union’s blanket approach, thus impeding close inter-regional collaboration in this policy arena