Abstract
In Migration diplomacy in the Middle East and North Africa, Gerasimos Tsourapas offers a thorough exploration of the dynamics between states and their mobile populations, with a particular emphasis on nondemocratic contexts. Using the conceptual framework of migration diplomacy, the analysis provides a powerful perspective on the intricate interplay between domestic necessities and foreign policy imperatives, and their influence on cross-border mobility of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. The book skillfully captures the influence of nation-building and developmentalist policies within MENA region particularly in the 1950–1980 period, presenting a refreshing Global South perspective to a discussion typically associated with European migration narratives.
In Tsourapas’ detailed exploration of the MENA region, Egypt is spotlighted as the primary protagonist, with other nations assuming secondary and complementary roles. This emphasis on Egypt is evident throughout the book's structure. Following the theoretical framework on migration diplomacy presented in Chapter 1, Chapters 2 and 3 delve deeply into the politics of migration in modern Egypt, detailing successive Egyptian leaders’ use of varied migration discourses to discipline their citizens with the regime's evolving ideology during the 1952–2011 period. Chapter 4 transitions from emigration policies and politics to state-diaspora relations, contrasting Egypt's engagement with its migrant and diaspora communities abroad against those of other MENA countries, specifically Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, and Libya. Shifting to international relations, Chapter 5 offers a comparative perspective on interstate cooperation, examining how labor migration to Arab oil-producing countries post-1970 has contributed to strengthening regime security in two home countries, notably Egypt and Jordan. Finally, Chapter 6 delves into how migrant and refugee populations can be employed as diplomatic assets, focusing on Arab host states’ use of Egyptian labor migrants for political leverage, a discussion complemented by insights into the recent refugee rent-seeking strategies of Jordan, Lebanon, and Turkey in the post-2011 Syrian displacement.
Gathered between 2013 and 2018 in Egypt, Lebanon, and Jordan, the data in Tsourapas’ book offer invaluable insights for students of international migration and MENA studies, especially given the challenges associated with fieldwork, data collection, and ensuring data accuracy in the region. In the text, Tsourapas delves deeper into the prevailing debate in social sciences in general, and international migration literature in particular, about agency versus structure. He posits, with respect to the Egyptian (and larger MENA) context, that “the act of migration arguably signifies less an act that affirms agency, or the subject's sovereignty, than a deeper entrenchment of the subject within social norms and practices, as well as within the governmental techniques of power that govern and delineate conduct” (p. 10). Recognizing the sociopolitical and economic influences of emigrant communities in their transnational political engagements with their homeland, Tsourapas shifts the focus more toward structure. The cases he presents suggest that both reactive and proactive strategies adopted by successive Egyptian leaders and other states aim not merely to “adapt” but to actively “interfere” with migration patterns. One wonders about the reception and implication of these policies among emigrants in the transnational sphere, especially when thinking about the regions’ active sociopolitical climate in the post-2011 period.
In his book, Tsourapas draws from Hollifield's (1992) seminal discourse on the “liberal paradox” and incorporates Natter's (2018) notion of “illiberal paradox” into the arena of emigration and diaspora policies, to understand how authoritarian regimes navigate the intensified tensions between markets and rights in their domestic and foreign policymaking due to emigration. Tsourapas integrates several research agendas in migration literature that, when read together with his other works, further underscore his integrative perspective. Bringing together discussions on exit, emigrant/diaspora, and return policies, he emphasizes that the states’ social construction of migrant subjects domestically and their transnational engagement with emigrants were pivotal in the MENA region. However, the cases illustrate that the manner in which these relations unfolded was contingent upon the specific context and the decisions of the leaders. Furthermore, he shows that the dynamics of migration diplomacy, characterized by both cooperation and contention, have historically informed the governance of cross-border population mobility in the MENA region. The juxtaposition of labor migration and forced migration was particularly enlightening in his discussion around states’ attempt to govern economic demography, in which the perceived high costs of absorbing and (re)integrating migrants (and refugees) during crises shaped the dynamics of migration diplomacy negotiations.
The book's promise and commitment to represent the Global South is of significant value, primarily as it extends beyond the “Eurocentric interpretations of security and international relations” (p. 5) and the prevalent migration systems in the literature. By broadening the literature's scope, it encourages us to pose some further questions: Is it feasible to transcend the established dichotomy of the Global North/Global South and bring insights gained from both spheres to compare home state policies concerning mobile populations? Furthermore, is the growing securitization of emigration and diasporas exclusive to “traditional” authoritarian contexts? Or can we also identify coercive and consensual strategies used by liberal democracies under the guise of regime security, especially in the face of a “rising trend towards authoritarianism across world politics” (p. 152)?