The politics of evidence-based policy in Europe’s ‘migration crisis’

Article


Baldwin-Edwards, M., Blitz, B. and Crawley, H. 2019. The politics of evidence-based policy in Europe’s ‘migration crisis’. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies. 45 (12), pp. 2139-2155. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369183X.2018.1468307
TypeArticle
TitleThe politics of evidence-based policy in Europe’s ‘migration crisis’
AuthorsBaldwin-Edwards, M., Blitz, B. and Crawley, H.
Abstract

Significant increases in the number of refugees and other migrants arriving across the Mediterranean to Europe during 2015 were associated with an increased emphasis on gathering research evidence to enable policymakers to better understand the complexities of migration and improve the policy response. In the UK, the emphasis on evidence-based policy was reflected in funding by the Economic and Social Research Council for a Mediterranean Migration Research Programme. Drawing on the evidence gathered through this programme, the articles in the volume explore the nature of Europe’s ‘migration crisis’ and the extent to which the development of new migration management policies was grounded in evidence about the causes, drivers and consequences of migration to Europe. The authors conclude that there is a substantial ‘gap’ between the now significant body of evidence examining migration processes and European Union policy responses. This gap can be attributed to three main factors: the long-standing ‘paradigm war’ in social research between positivist, interpretivist and critical approaches which means that what counts as ‘evidence’ is contested; competing knowledge claims associated with research and other forms of evidence including the management data to construct and/or support particular policy narratives; and, perhaps most importantly, the political context within which migration policymaking takes place. The politics of policymaking, perhaps nowhere more evident than in the area of migration, has resulted in policies based on underlying assumptions and vested political interests rather than the evidence, even where this evidence has been funded directly by European governments.

Research GroupSocial Policy Research Centre (SPRC)
PublisherRoutledge
JournalJournal of Ethnic and Migration Studies
ISSN1369-183X
Electronic1469-9451
Publication dates
Online30 May 2018
Print09 Sep 2019
Publication process dates
Deposited03 May 2018
Accepted05 Apr 2018
Output statusPublished
Accepted author manuscript
Copyright Statement

This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies on 30/05/2018, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/1369183X.2018.1468307

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.1080/1369183X.2018.1468307
LanguageEnglish
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