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A core feature of the emerging international governance of migration is the reliance on knowledge and science in elaborating policies. Yet how scientists and researchers can productively contribute to policy making is unclear. This is the result of knowledge uncertainty, the complexity of migration dynamics, and the unintended and counterproductive consequences policies. If research cannot say what "should be done," it may tell policy makers what they definitively should not do. This article outlines some fundamental ethical norms that could serve this end, while warning that migration policies, like other policies, are often unable to live up even to the most minimal moral requirements.

Some anthropological examinations of documents have emphasized their role as regulatory technologies that enact control and legibility over both citizens and "aliens." This article shows, however, that documentary practices and forms both reinforce and undermine attempts to make persons governable. My analysis centers on the "pink card," the identity document issued to asylum seekers in Greece, which in 2010 was the European country with the highest number of asylum cases pending in limbo. Examining how both state functionaries and asylum seekers engage with it, I show how the pink card takes on unpredictable meanings with indeterminate effects, which can disrupt the regulatory functions of the asylum procedure. Through ethnographic data drawn from encounters between asylum seekers and police, interviews with asylum seekers, and case material, I argue for a consideration of how things themselves govern—that is, dispose, position, and shape—the activities and tools of state regulation.

PurposeBusiness process management (BPM) networks have become an important theme in both research and practice. Drawing from governance theory, this paper seeks to provide a theoretical understanding of BPM networks and introduce three types of BPM governance: market, network, and hierarchy. Subsequently, it aims to study the impact of BPM maturity, organization size, and financial stress (independent variables) on the three types of BPM governance (dependent variable).Design/methodology/approachAfter a thorough literature analysis a quantitative study is conducted. Comprehensive data of 538 local public administration in Germany and Japan is comparatively studied by means of a PLS (model and multi group) analysis.FindingsThe empirical study provides evidence for the significant dependence of BPM governance on contextual variables: the configuration of the BPM network relies on the BPM maturity and the perceived financial stress. Also, such dependence does vary between the two countries. Higher financial stress leads to more higher network sourcing in Germany and to higher market sourcing in Japan, respectively.Practical implicationsThis study suggests that the role of process managers changes over time. In immature organizations, process managers appear to work alone and struggle for resources. However, once organizations start to mature, the role changes to that of an "orchestrator of different actors." Process managers in future public organizations (assuming a positive development of capabilities), both in Asian and European settings, must be able to collaborate with actors from different governance mechanisms.Originality/valueFirst, the paper provides a governance‐theory based understanding of BPM networks. It introduces market‐type, network‐type, and hierarchy‐type BPM governance and thereby provides greater conceptual and theoretical clarity of this important phenomenon. So far, this research area has been under‐theorized. Second, the paper provides a theory that explains BPM network governance. Here, relevant contextual variables are taken into account, including the BPM maturity of an organization. Third, the paper contributes comprehensive empirical insights into BPM networks structures, governance mechanisms, and their dependence on contextual variables (especially the BPM maturity of an organization). Fourth, it provides an ample comparative theory‐based analysis of BPM networks in two different countries. Such an endeavor, as to the author's best knowledge, has not yet been undertaken so far.