International Organization for Migration: Challenges, Commitments, Complexities

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) is a major international organization involved in human mobility, including humanitarian activities and responses to forced migration. This book provides an accessible introduction to IOM, focusing on its humanitarian work and its involvement in states' interests in restricting migration. It examines tensions and controversies surrounding the agency's activities and demonstrates how IOM has grown by acting as an entrepreneur and cultivating autonomy and influence.

\n Format: Paperback / softback
\n Length: 144 pages
\n Publication date: 07 February 2020
\n Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd
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Since its establishment in 1951, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) has undergone a remarkable transformation, expanding from a small, regionally specific, logistically focused outfit into a major international organization involved in an almost dizzying array of activities related to human mobility. In 2016, IOM joined the United Nations (UN) system and rebranded itself as the UN migration agency. Despite its dramatic expansion and increasing influence, IOM remains understudied.

This book provides an accessible and incisive introduction to IOM, focusing on its humanitarian activities and responses to forced migration. This work now makes up the majority of the organization's budget, staff, and field presence. IOM's humanitarian work is often overlooked or dismissed as a veil for its involvement in other activities that serve states' interests in restricting migration. In contrast, Bradley argues that understanding IOM's involvement in humanitarian action and work with displaced persons is pivotal to comprehending its evolution and contemporary significance. Examining tensions and controversies surrounding the agency's activities, including in the complex cases of Haiti and Libya, the book considers how IOM's structure, culture, and internal and external power struggles have shaped its behavior. It demonstrates how IOM has grown by acting as an entrepreneur, cultivating autonomy and influence well beyond its limited formal mandate.

The International Organization for Migration is essential reading for students and scholars of migration, humanitarianism, and international organizations.

\n Weight: 250g\n
Dimension: 233 x 179 x 9 (mm)\n
ISBN-13: 9781138818965\n \n