When IOM encounters the field : localising the migration and development paradigm in Tajikistan

This article analyses localisation of the migration and development paradigm, promoted worldwide by the International Organization for Migration (IOM), by unpacking transformations that this approach undergoes in aid-receiving countries assisted by this organisation. Drawing on insights from International Relations and the anthropology of development, and taking the case of a specific policy transfer initiated by IOM in post-Soviet Tajikistan, which involved setting up a local state-operated labour recruitment system for industries abroad, the article advances three arguments. First, the crucial relevance of actors in the field, namely brokers who arrange and navigate IOM's collaborations with various actors on the ground, reveals that the authority of IOM in Tajikistan is personalised and relational, rather than institutional. Second, the existence of brokers points to an ideological heterogeneity within IOM, which on the surface seems united in its pursuit of the migration and development agenda. Third, this article problematises the role of IOM in Tajikistan, showing that the organisation interferes in state-citizens relations and that its rhetoric of migration and development justifies a market-tailored export of local labour, serving the global capitalist economy. The article contributes to research on IOM, as well as global-local interactions and international organisations in the field