Irregular Migration: The Dilemmas of Transnational Mobility

Irregular Migration is an extremely timely and topical book, analysing the fundamental tensions at the core of present attempts to manage the movement of population in today's world. Recent events around the globe have prompted a reappraisal of the emerging consensus on migration control. Business demands free movement while nations fear unregulated population flows. The replacement of immigration control with migration management is the aim of First World governments as irregular migration challenges states' attempts to find a balance between recruitment of labour, humanitarian protection and national security. This book provides a theoretical framework for the analysis of mobility and border crossings in an age of globalisation. It draws upon the authors' pioneering research on people working in the UK without proper immigration status, the organisations that support immigrants, and the responses of control agencies and public services. Losers in the global economy, who vote with their feet as economic migrants, are making a claim to justice as well as trying to improve their standards of living. The book concludes with an evaluation of the justification for border controls, and of the prospects for migration regimes under conditions of growing inequality. This fascinating book will be warmly welcomed by academics and researchers in economics, politics, migration studies, social policy and economic geography. NGOs and policymakers concerned with immigration, asylum and public service provision will also find this invaluable reading.

Table of Contents:
Contents: Introduction: Theoretical Framework and Plan of the Book Part I: Mobility and its Regulation 1. Irregular Migration and Mobility in Economic Theory 2. Mobility and Migration in the European Union 3. Irregular Migration, Labour Markets and Social Protection Part II: The UK as a Case Study 4. Why They Come 5. How They Survive 6. The Role of Support Organisations Part III: The Response of the Receiving Society 7. Internal Controls and Enforcement: Immigration Authorities and the Police 8. Irregular Migration and the Public Services 9. Recruitment of Labour from Abroad 10. In Search of Global Justice Bibliography Index

About the Author :
Bill Jordan, Professor of Social Policy, University of Plymouth, Professor of Social Policy, University of Huddersfield and Reader in Social Policy, University of North London, UK and Franck Düvell, Head of Migration Department, German Centre for Integration and Migration Research, Germany

Review :
'Bill Jordan's and Franck Duvell's book is a welcome intervention. It is the first serious volume on this topic in the UK. It is original and timely, provocative and concerned.' '. . . the whole book is very interesting. . . it is also a grave and comprehensive input into the British and European public debate on the principles of migration policy.' '. . . an interesting piece of empirical research whose findings offer the reader a theoretical discussion of some of the principles of political democracy and justice, but also of the moral dilemmas associated with the plight of irregular migrants, the losers of the global economy.' 'Europe's governments are stepping up their fight against irregular migration. Jordan and Duvell challenge this agenda. They provide empirical evidence for the complexity of the phenomenon and new theoretical perspectives on the political and moral dilemmas of immigration control. This is an important contribution that ought to be read not only by social scientists. If policymakers had time to read books I would recommend this one.'