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AbstractMuch of intra‐Asian labour migration is regulated on the basis of governing tools that aim at managing cross‐border movement of workers on a strictly temporary, employer‐tied basis. The key elements involved in the operationalization of strictly temporary migration are recruitment, remittances and return; these three 'Rs' are also central to global policy discussions around the migration‐development nexus. The core premise of this paper is that this strict framework results in a particular form of migrant precarity which in turn shapes migrant transnationality, leaving migrants with severely circumscribed labour agency. This leads to the argument that temporary migration paradigm as practiced in much of Asia constitutes involuntary transnationalism. The paper ends by arguing that based on proactive migrant rights activism, the involuntary character of transnationalism is being challenged by bringing a different set of 'Rs' into the discussion derived from global social policy and global justice perspectives: regulation, redistribution and rights.

Temporary contract migration represents the predominant form of legal migration policy in Asia. With its rationale of the filling of jobs and provision of income-generating opportunities, it is linked to the migration–development nexus debate. This paper focuses on the impact of migrants' agency as development actors within a transnational sphere. The mainstream migration–development nexus debate and policy prescriptions imagine diaspora groups as the ideal conduit for grassroots-driven development initiatives. While 'diaspora group-led' initiatives assume long-term, if not permanent, migration, temporary migration creates a dynamic that is fundamentally distinct. Temporality of migration, as mandated by bilateral agreements and promoted by global institutions in Asia, shapes migrant agency and migrants' development aspirations in essentially different ways, but temporary contract migrants are nevertheless constructed as the 'agents of development' at the macro level of politics and policies, while receiving limited research attention. This paper analyses temporality, migrant agency and the migration–development nexus debate in relation to female domestic workers who epitomise the feminisation of migration and constitute the largest number of newly hired migrants in many key source countries in Southeast Asia. This introduces a gender dimension to our discussion of temporary migration in its link to migrants' developmental agency.

This paper is concerned with how existing migration policies affect individual migrant women's choices, in particular, with the advancement, or consolidation, of a migrants' rights perspective. The focus is thereby on those migrants classified as unskilled, who constitute the largest and most vulnerable category among migrants. The analysis of migration policies has conventionally been approached from a state/government-centred viewpoint that sees states as the key actors. This paper, however, emphasises a larger number of actors - governmental and non-governmental - as well as the power relations among them to argue that protection through "legal regulation" in the absence of actual implementation is an incomplete solution to alleviate unfair labour conditions that migrants in general, and migrant women specifically, experience. Measures designed to "protect" migrants must be accompanied by measures that empower them, a role that has largely been taken on by existing migrant worker non-governmental organisations (NGOs). Focussing on intra-Asian migration flows in which Southeast Asia is the main labour sender and East Asia the receiver of Southeast Asian migrants, the paper explores the nexus between law and civic activism in the specific subject area of international labour migration and its gender implications.

This paper examines international labor migration within the broader framework of social justice and 'politics of migration' from a 'bottom up perspective.' In view of governments' inability or lack of political will to deal with labor migration issues from the perspective of migrant workers' well-being, it is very much up to non-state actors, such as NGOs, to take up the role as advocates to assert pressure on policymakers. Conceptually, this links up with the extensive literature on the revival of civil society and social movements, in a national as well as transnational setting. These linkages (between governmental or elite politics and civil society activism) in the context of international migration have not been explored sufficiently by existing scholarship and need to be integrated into a new normative framework to migration studies. Also, the issue of states' failure in addressing social issues raised by much of the literature on globalization is of importance in this context. At each of these levels, there are gender implications. The international women's movement and feminist contributions in development studies can serve as a model for migration scholars and activists.

This paper is concerned with how existing migration policies affect individual migrant women's choices, in particular, with the advancement, or consolidation, of a migrants' rights perspective. The focus is thereby on those migrants classified as unskilled, who constitute the largest and most vulnerable category among migrants. The analysis of migration policies has conventionally been approached from a state/government-centred viewpoint that sees states as the key actors. This paper, however, emphasises a larger number of actors - governmental and non-governmental - as well as the power relations among them to argue that protection through "legal regulation" in the absence of actual implementation is an incomplete solution to alleviate unfair labour conditions that migrants in general, and migrant women specifically, experience. Measures designed to "protect" migrants must be accompanied by measures that empower them, a role that has largely been taken on by existing migrant worker non-governmental organisations (NGOs). Focussing on intra-Asian migration flows in which Southeast Asia is the main labour sender and East Asia the receiver of Southeast Asian migrants, the paper explores the nexus between law and civic activism in the specific subject area of international labour migration and its gender implications.

This paper examines international labor migration within the broader framework of social justice and 'politics of migration' from a 'bottom up perspective.' In view of governments' inability or lack of political will to deal with labor migration issues from the perspective of migrant workers' well-being, it is very much up to non-state actors, such as NGOs, to take up the role as advocates to assert pressure on policymakers. Conceptually, this links up with the extensive literature on the revival of civil society and social movements, in a national as well as transnational setting. These linkages (between governmental or elite politics and civil society activism) in the context of international migration have not been explored sufficiently by existing scholarship and need to be integrated into a new normative framework to migration studies. Also, the issue of states' failure in addressing social issues raised by much of the literature on globalization is of importance in this context. At each of these levels, there are gender implications. The international women's movement and feminist contributions in development studies can serve as a model for migration scholars and activists.

This paper discusses the link between international migration and democratisation from an actor-oriented perspective on the basis of the mobilising efforts by key civil society actors engaged in the promotion of the rights of migrant workers through developing strategies towards movement building and by capitalising on political opportunities that have appeared on the global level. Being pitched at the global level and at organising patterns via the network form, the analytical framework developed takes as its starting point global justice perspectives and then builds upon insights from social movement and constructivist International Relations scholarship. It is argued that what is emerging are (1) movement practices in migrant rights networks which are putting forward increasingly coherent claims that transcend the conventional thinking about global governance and human rights (rights-assuming advocacy); and (2) that such practices are effectively transgressing interstate political arenas (participatory, rights-producing politics). It is on the basis of the cooperation between the 2 main protagonists, trade unions and migrant rights associations, that strategic positioning of migrant rights issues within the global policy debate is taking place, with the aim of promoting a rights-based approach (RBA) to migration and its governance. The combination of rights-producing politics and rights-assuming advocacy is expressed in the RBA to migration which involves the reframing of migrants rights as well as attempts to democratise migration governance in participatory terms.

AbstractAlthough as such not new, the revival or continuation as well as expansion of temporary contract schemes as the main method by which to regulate economic migration legally is part and parcel of a new discourse on migration policy making: 'management of migration'. Furthermore, this discourse and concomitant policy descriptions are related to the current phase of the debate on the relationship between migration and development. The focus on managing migration in its link to development revolves around the idea that orderly, legal migration schemes can benefit sending and receiving countries' developmental and labour market needs as well as individual migrants themselves. The welfare and rights of migrant workers, however, remain the neglected dimension in this equation. As preference is given to temporary or circular migration policies, while little attention is paid to migrants' rights beyond the rhetorical level, the question which arises pertains to migrants' actual capability to contribute to development. In the attempt to address this question, the normative starting point of this paper is a rights-based approach to migration and development. The argument advanced revolves around the need to re-politicize this discourse and policy prescriptions. Empirically, my discussion is based on the 'political activist work' carried out by the regional migrant rights network in Asia, the Migrant Forum in Asia (MFA).

Temporary contract migration schemes have experienced a revival in Europe. Such schemes mean that a significant number of migrant workers have limited access to rights and entitlements, let alone full citizenship. The temporary nature of their migration poses obstacles to traditional ways of organising workers. This changing landscape of migration dynamics, thus, requires a changing landscape of migrant rights activism also.

The focus in this paper is on collective activism by social justice organisations and their engagement with, and handling of, the subject matter of migrant workers' rights. Based on insights from scholars working on social movements and transnational advocacy networks, I argue that a trans-national and trans-institutional perspective is required in addressing temporary migrants' socio-economic and legal insecurities, and it is the concept of the 'network' which captures best these interactions between multiple actors at multiple sites.

AbstractThe starting point in exploring possible linkages between migration and democratisation in this paper is the role of collective organisations in influencing and changing the direction and practice of political activism aimed at advancing the rights of migrants as foreign workers. Given the specific context of my discussion being temporary contract migration—the predominant form of (legal) economic migration in Asia today—taking a transnational perspective that links origin and destination countries is paramount, as the problem issues these contract migrants face occur at both 'ends' of the migration journey, often simultaneously. I develop a reconputalisation of the notion of 'political remittances' to analyse political activism via collective organisations that operate across borders. In doing so, I raise the question whether this activism contributes to the transnationalisation of migrant rights—a specific form of political remittances. In conclusion, I argue that the analysis and theorisation of political remittances aimed at furthering solidarity among workers and democratising of labour and human relations needs to be situated within a multi-sited landscape of collective organisations and the networks between them.