International Migration and Economic Informalization : A Denationalized Perspective - Part I

Migration studies as a scientific field has long been, and still are, significantly characterized by methodological nationalism as well as general conceptual simplification of the studied phenomenon. The reason for this lies in the fact that migration studies were initially institutionalized under the strong influence of national migration policies and labour market rationale, rather than scientific criteria and priorities. Consequently, instead of focusing on the real causes and consequences of the international migration, the mainstream migration studies have been fixed for the role of a nation-state, whose task is to build and defend national sovereignty, a homogeneous national community based on solidarity, and a territorially bounded state.

Similarly, national economic policies have framed the research field of the informal economy, by focusing primarily on “migration as a threat”, international organized crime, marginalized social groups and the criminalization of individuals, while the economic strategies of international big business and governments have been considered "formal" in their nature. Consequently, mainstream informal economy research normally takes for granted the formal nature of national economies as a whole, as well as the economic activities of the state and the global economy.

This session encourages contributions aimed at filling the gap in knowledge production of how contemporary migration regimes together with economic structures as well as labour politics generate new forms of precarity, accumulation by dispossession, economic exploitation dynamics and social exclusion. We encourage contributions addressing the dynamics of informal economy and the local-global spectrum of exploitation of international migrants from a de-nationalized perspective.