Migration Governance in Civil War: The Case of the Kurdish Conflict

Main author: Adamson, Fiona
Format: Journal Article           
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id eprints-39284
recordtype eprints
institution SOAS, University of London
collection SOAS Research Online
language English
language_search English
description This article examines the management and instrumentalisation of migration and mobility as an area of contested governance in civil wars. Building on work in migration studies and rebel governance, it shows how migration and mobility regimes form part of the structure of violent armed conflicts, as both states and non-state actors seek to control processes and consequences of mobility and migration to their advantage. Governance of migration during conflict involves the strategic use of mechanisms of migration governance for the purposes of achieving conflict aims. This article develops a framework for understanding how migration governance is instrumentalised in civil war as a means of managing and controlling populations. The framework is then applied to the case of the Kurdish conflict in Turkey and beyond through an analysis of three areas of migration governance that have played significant roles in this extended regional conflict: forced migration and refugee governance; border management; and diaspora engagement. The analysis provides a challenge to dominant state-centric, securitisation and humanitarian approaches to migration and security by pointing to the political and spatial complexity of contested migration governance in situations of protracted conflict.
format Journal Article
author Adamson, Fiona
author_facet Adamson, Fiona
authorStr Adamson, Fiona
author_letter Adamson, Fiona
title Migration Governance in Civil War: The Case of the Kurdish Conflict
publisher Cambridge University Press
publishDate 2023
url https://eprints.soas.ac.uk/39284/