Complex stratification: Understanding European Union governance of migrant rights

Emma Carmel, Regine Paul

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

This article examines how the EU regulates the rights of migrants as a matter of regional-level governance, and with what implications. To expose the differential logics behind the governance of migrant statuses by the EU, we compare the regulation of 12 legal categories of migrants, across three dimensions of rights: civil, economic, and social. We find that while asylum seekers are unequivocally subject to the most conditional regulation of rights, at the other end of the hierarchy, EU citizens' rights are subject to caveats and ambiguity. The allocation of diverse statuses to migrants privileges different kinds of rights for different categories of migrants, and does not construct clear hierarchies of rights or statuses. This complex stratification of migrant rights highlights the important role of EU-level regulation in generating a migrant rights regime, with substantive implications for migrants entering and living in the European Union.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)56-85
JournalRegions and Cohesion
Volume3
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Dec 2013

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