Janus Faced Migration Policymaking: A Case Study of Afghan-European Migration Policy

Abstract

This essay is structured around a series of questions that relate to migration policymaking in general, but more specifically to migration policy by, for and about Afghans. The examination of these questions indicates some of the problems with migration policymaking, especially when conducted at the supra-national level. The focus here is on state policies, European migration policies as they affect Afghans and the Afghan government and Afghan migration policies that have emerged in response to pressure exerted by Europe and Afghanistan’s neighbouring states, Iran and Pakistan. Migration policy serves to highlight the international character of states, since it is never simply national, and though driven by domestic pressures, always involves other states. The approach taken here is one of critical enquiry, in which the dominant framing of policy issues and its consequences are interrogated and questions of power and inequality are raised. The findings are based on an ‘interpretive’ analysis of official documents and interviews with Afghan and European officials in Kabul. As a result, the conclusions offered and the meanings attributed to actions and policy are authors’, based on ‘plausibility and the balance of probability’ and as such, open to argument and dispute.