Complex precarity

Towards a reconceptualisation of irregular migration as a reality and a policy category

Bibliographic Data

ID21790871
AuthorsShiva S Mohan (0000-0001-5756-0808, Toronto Zoo), Anna Triandafyllidou (0000-0001-6760-0033, Toronto Zoo)
Year2024
Volume8
Issue3/4
Pages202-217
Publication date2024-01-01
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueInternational Journal of Migration and Border Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1755-2419 • E-ISSN: 1755-2427
PublisherInderscience Publishers (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1504/ijmbs.2024.145468
OpenAlexW4409085865
LanguageEN
Citations received2

This paper investigates the relationship between broader economic immigration policy frameworks, legal statuses and related terminologies, and the systemic production of (ir)regularity and ultimately precarity among migrants. We begin with a critical review of irregularity and how it is (re)produced between conditions of entry and stay, changing policy requirements and pathways into and out of irregular status. We then take two contrasted cases, Canada and Spain, to illustrate how their diametrically opposed economic immigration management regimes (Canada's highly regulated, proactive approach; Spain's deregulated, retroactive policy) produce similar forms of irregularised, semi-legal and precarious status for migrants. From these reflections, we propose a multi-dimensional perspective on the concept of precarity that includes social, legal and economic aspects, arguing that precarity offers a better analytical palette for understanding irregularity in migration today. Finally, we offer thoughts about the implications of complex precarity for irregular migration realities in European and North American contexts

Economic geography · Geography · Political science · Precarity · Sociology · Employment and Welfare Studies · Gender Studies

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