Labour Migration Policy in Russia

Considerations on Governmentality

Bibliographic Data

ID9953609
AuthorsVladimir S Malakhov (Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration Moscow), Владимир Малахов (0000-0003-0154-5785, The Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration, corresponding author), Марк Симон (0000-0002-5748-7265, The Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration), Mark E Simon (Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration Moscow)
Year2017
Volume56
Issue3
Pages61-72
Publication date2017-10-13
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueInternational Migration (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0020-7985 • E-ISSN: 1468-2435
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/imig.12402
OpenAlexW2763911793
LanguageEN
Citations received9
References cited17

The authors argue that Russian migration policy reflects the functioning of contemporary Russia's entire bureaucratic machine. The bureaucracy's Soviet‐era governance techniques on the one hand and the material interests of particular pressure groups on the other, shape the manipulation of immigration regulation that has occurred since the early 2000s. Therefore, attempts to liberalize migration regulation, i.e., to simplify the legalization of foreign workers, have always been incoherent, accompanied by reservations and limitations. Additionally, Russian actions are riddled with conflict between ‘geopolitical’ and domestic policy rationales. The authorities’ occasional attempts to use immigration regulation as a foreign policy tool acquire primarily symbolic value in the ‘domestic political market’ rather than serving any instrumental purpose. The effort to enhance Russian influence in the post‐Soviet space through the ‘reintegration project’ (Eurasian Economic Union) collides with the goal of national labour market protection, since integration entails the removal of barriers to labour movement

Bureaucracy · Corporate governance · Development economics · Economics · Foreign policy · Geopolitics · Governmentality · Immigration · Immigration policy · Legalization · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Arctic and Russian Policy Studies · Law · Migration and Labor Dynamics · Regional Socio-Economic Development Trends