Decentering the study of migrant returns and return policy
A closer look at EU migrant return policies
Project website
Project profile on EU website
SPIA is proud to be a partner in the EU-funded GAPs project. Our international consortium is exploring return migration with a focus on Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. Bringing together 17 partner institutions, we are conducting a comprehensive study of return policies and practices. SPIA will support the project in communicating its policy-relevant results.
Immigration is a critical component of the makeup of European societies, and it is likely to dominate policy and political agendas for many years to come. It also requires coordinated responses across EU Member States. With this in mind, the EU-funded GAPs project will focus on the EU’s return policies and barriers/enablers in international cooperation on returns. It will explore the disconnects between expectations of return policies and their actual outcomes by decentering the dominant, one-sided understanding of "return policy making." Specifically, GAPs will conduct a multidisciplinary comparative research in 13 countries in Europe, Africa and the broader Middle East. It will shed light on the perspectives of migrants themselves to understand their knowledge of return policies as well as their aspirations and experiences.
Objective
GAPs is a comprehensive study on the drivers of return policies and barriers/enablers in international cooperation on returns. The project examines the disconnects between expectations of return policies and their actual outcomes by de-centering the dominant, one-sided understanding of “return policymaking.” GAPs will: a) scrutinize the shortcomings of the EU’s governance of returns with both its internal and external dimensions; b) analyse enablers and barriers of international cooperation c) shed light on the perspectives of migrants themselves to understand their knowledge of return policies, aspirations and experiences. By taking a close look at governance, cooperation and actor’s agency, the project is able to suggest new avenues for international cooperation, develop recommendations for stakeholders and explore alternative pathways to returning migrants. The project combines its decentering approach with three innovative concepts: a focus on return migration infrastructures that enable GAPs to analyze governance fissures; an analysis of return migration diplomacy to understand how relations among EU MSs and with third countries hinder cooperation on returns; and a trajectory approach that uses a socio-spatial and temporal lens to understand migrant agency. The project achieves its aims via multi-disciplinary, qualitative and quantitative comparative research in 11 countries in Europe, Africa and the broader Middle East (including Afghanistan). The project involves wide-ranging and innovative impacts, including the creation of interactive data repository on returns, a return cooperation index, return governance indicators, policy briefs and workshops, the formation of stakeholder expert panels, a digital storytelling and video series, the launching of Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) as well as open access policy and scholarly publication