Strategic tools were developed to explore new lines of research and stimulate theory and methodology development: feasibility studies and theory conferences.
| FEASIBILITY STUDIES |
EUROLINKS, was designed primarily to create a new framework for understanding migration to Europe in terms of various types of existing interconnections between geographical areas. This research line had a special integrative function in seeking to systematically engage members from Central and Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean Basin.
INTPOLfocused on integration and its local and national policy nexus. Implementation of this line is relevant for supranational policies, such as those of the EU, as well as for national-and local- level integration policies.
SOCO analysed the political and social consequences of migration in European societies. It focused on contextual variables explaining the constraints and opportunities of various forms of political mobilisation in different countries and its interconnections: the anti-immigrant mobilisation, anti-racist mobilisation and political mobilisation of immigrants themselves.
| THEORY CONFERENCES |
1) (Irregular) Transit Migration in Europe: Theory, Politics, Research Methodology and Ethics, Principle coordinator: Dr Franck Düvell, COMPAS, University of Oxford (April 2008)
By bringing together experts from various disciplines studying this phenomenon from both the sending, transit and receiving countries' perspectives, this event aimed to contribute to a more appropriate typology, a theory of transit migration, as well as consider ways of improving the reliability of data and methodologies.
2) Diaspora and Transnationalism: New Discourses, New Agents, New Institutions? Conceptual, Theoretical and Methodological Aspects, Principle coordinators: Rainer Bauboeck and Wiebke Sievers, ISR, Vienna (April 2008)
The terms transnationalism and diaspora have diffused widely over the past years. Diaspora is a very old concept, transnationalism is a relatively new one. This IMISCOE theory workshop explored the broad range of phenomena that are variously described under these rubrics with the aim of clarifying their conceptual uses, exploring their embeddedness in specific strands of social, political, cultural and historical theories, and discussing their methodological implications and possible operationalizations in various disciplines.
3) The Nexus Between Migration/Integration Research and Policy in a European Perspective, Principle coordinators: Peter Scholten and Rinus Penninx, U-Twente and IMES, The Netherlands (May 2008).
This conference organized a dialogue between researchers and policy-makers on the nexus between migration/integration research and policy in Europe. It aimed to contribute to the exchange of experiences on how to organize research-policy dialogues from various countries and from policy-makers as well as researchers themselves. How can critical dialogues between research and policy be organized and how can dialogues of the deaf be averted?
4) Theories of Migration and Social Change, Principle coordinator: Stephen Castles, COMPAS, UK (July 2008). The purpose of the Conference is to explore theoretically and systematically how migration and social change are connected, by investigating the embeddedness of human mobility in processes of globalization and social transformation, as they affect all societies whatever their current role in migratory processes (i.e. origin, transit and destination societies) or their level of development. The aim is to move beyond recent rather simplistic discourses on ‘migration and development’ (such as the notion of ‘remittance-led development’), which are increasingly being questioned by researchers through studies which show the variety and complexity of responses to change.
5) Interethnic Relations: Multidisciplinary Approaches, Principle coordinators: Aitor Ibarolla and Flip Lindo, DEUSTO Spain and IMES, The Netherlands (May 2009)
The aim of the conference is to shed conceptual and theoretical light on a classic problem area of migration and integration research namely interethnic relations. The conference will approach this subject in a broad way, aiming to bring together scholars from different disciplines in the social and behavioural sciences and history, incorporating the gamut of interests pursued, and simultaneously providing focus by offering a format in which a variety of themes, perspectives and modalities of collaboration are articulated. The general themes of social integration (B5) and a longitudinal perspective (C8) will be integral in the choice of the themes and approaches of the conference.
Deliverables
Title |
Type |
Date |
| Papers Transit migration in Europe | Conference papers | 2008 |
| Papers Theories of Migration and Social Change | Conference papers | 2008 |
| Transit, migration and politics: Trends and constructions on the fringes of Europe | IMISCOE Policy Brief | 2008 |
| Feasibility Study EUROLINKS | IMISCOE Working Paper | 2008 |
