Clarifying definitions and terms

What is policy?

Policy is used to describe a range of ideas and concepts. Academic literature (Hogwood and Gunn, 1984; cited in Kay, 2006) defines policy as:

  • a label for a field of activity (for example, foreign policy);
  • an expression of general purpose or the intended path towards a desired state of affairs;
  • a specific proposal;
  • a decision of government;
  • a formal authorization (for example, legislation);
  • a programme of activity;
  • outputs, or what governments actually deliver, as opposed to what is promised or authorized through legislation;
  • outcomes or what is actually achieved;
  • policy as a theory or model (the notion that “if we do X then Y will follow”).

Drawing from these definitions, EMM2.0 will use the following definition:

Glossary
Migration Policy

A government’s problem-solving efforts to reach a desired state of affairs with regard to migration through comprehensive and coherent interventions, anchored in regulation, including legal frameworks, and delivered through programmes of activity. 

Source

Based on Hogwood and Gunn, 1984; cited in Kay, 2006; and Bjerre et al., 2015.

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This chapter also briefly explores the idea of an overarching expression of policy. Policy objectives and intentions are organized in a strategy – a plan covering all areas of migration management. They are usually the product of, and articulated by, political actors, but not always. Plans of action containing individual policies and programmes are developed to operationalize the strategy. This chapter examines some tools for strategy development (see National migration strategies in this chapter).

Policymaking at any level ideally would be evidence-based, be responsive to other related areas of national policy, reflect the international context and international obligations, and embody ideas related to national values and identity.

Who makes policy?

Policymaker is a general term that covers a range of people who are engaged in the processes of formulating policy and designing ways to implement it. At the broadest level this includes politicians and their advisers, government officials and actors from various institutions including advisory bodies and parliamentary committees. For the purpose of EMM2.0, however, policymaker describes the non-political level government officials with migration-related policy functions. These officials could be working in migration, justice and interior ministries, other social policy ministries such as health and education, refugee processing authorities, social services and integration ministries, foreign and consular ministries and authorities that control economic development and government spending. They may be working in national-level government or subnational levels of government, depending on how government and authority is organized. They may include those whose more substantive responsibility is implementation and oversight.

Other actors that play an influencing role are non-governmental. Lobbyists, citizen and interest groups, academics, intergovernmental organizations, think tanks and businesses often act as policy advocates and/or policy analysts, and may be engaged in providing technical support to the policymaking efforts by gathering and synthesizing evidence and identifying choices. Advocacy can be complicated as the migration field is broad, cutting across many public policy sectors, and advocates may pursue a single interest area (such as labour protection, or concern for trafficking victims).

Policy analysts examine the state of existing law and policy, including:

  • international instruments to which the State is signatory
  • international practice in related or similar areas of national policy
  • implications such as policy costs and required legal instruments
  • instruments used by national and subnational government, and their effectiveness and impact

What are policy instruments?

For the purposes of EMM2.0, policy instruments are devices used by governments to guide their actions and to achieve their intended policy objectives. Decisions on these policy instruments and the form they take come after the policy objectives have been formulated. Policy instruments can take many forms and, collectively, should contribute to coherence of purpose and action. Instruments include legislation and other legal instruments (consistent with the relevant provisions of a State’s basic legal framework), specific programmes of action, charges or taxes, rules, guidance and instructional material. Ideally, these instruments should operate in a complementary way to produce the desired outcomes. For example, the instruments that might be needed for well-managed labour migration could include:

  • legislation that sets out entry requirements for non-citizens to enter a State for labour purposes;
  • further legislation that would work in tandem with the entry-requirement legislation to require employers to protect all workers – including foreign workers – from exploitation;
  • a skills matching mechanism that would optimize the legislation to facilitate arrangements between employers and migrant workers;
  • an education programme for employers and workers on rights and responsibilities, to support the legislation and the skills matching mechanism;
  • sufficient funding, provided jointly by government and a visa charge (tax) met by the employer.
The scope of migration policy

The sheer diversity of global migration realities and concerns means that the scope of migration policy is very broad. States experience migration very differently, and as a result, new or strengthened policies driven by the national context may be required. Migration’s many drivers and its links to other national policy domains and transnational issues require policy responses to address a very broad landscape of needs and interests. Migration can equally:

  • Be an enabler of other national policy objectives such as economic growth through incoming or outgoing labour migration, or delivering on social policies of family reunification; and
  • Demand responses from other policy spheres such as education policy that accommodates migrant children from diverse linguistic backgrounds; social services to support vulnerable refugees or victims of trafficking; and training and labour market strategies to discourage unwanted emigration of skilled nationals.

Migration policy, therefore, must serve a range of purposes, which could be categorized as those which:

  • Facilitate migration. These include labour migration, student migration, and family reunification;
  • Regulate migration. These include border management policies, responses to smuggling and trafficking, providing access to asylum;
  • Optimize migration outcomes. These include the suite of integration policies, migration health responses, effective remittance strategies, preparing and supporting migrant networks or facilitating skills transfer and education.

Migration policy affects a great range of stakeholders, including migrants themselves as well as their families and communities, businesses, subnational authorities and others (further details in Stage 4: Consultation).

The discussion in Migration management and the policy cycle demonstrates the scope of migration policy and the important role diverse stakeholders play in effective policymaking.

 

Key messages
  • The diversity of migration realities and concerns makes the scope of migration policy very broad. It can be an enabler of other policy objectives such as economic development, and can demand responses from other policy domains, such as education and health. An ideal starting point for migration policies is to develop an overarching and comprehensive national migration strategy.