This article argues that an “invisibility bargain” constrains migrants’ identities and political participation, demanding their economic contributions plus political and social invisibility in exchange for tolerance of their presence in the host country. In response, migrants negotiate their visible identity differences, minimize social distance from the host population, and build informal coalitions with non-state brokers to avoid citizen backlash against overt political activism. Examining Colombian forced migrants in Ecuador, the article challenges state-centric governance approaches, underscoring migrant agency in negotiating identity to influence social hierarchies, coexistence, and human security. Its findings advance the broader understanding of migration in the Global South.

Th is article addresses the challenges of using mediation in confl icts involving immigrants and refugees by examining the case of Colombian migrants in Ecuador. It proposes ways to adapt the community mediation model to better serve migrants in confl ict, enhancing mediators' awareness and capacity to navigate cross-cultural diff erences, power imbalances, distrust of state institutions, and other common challenges. Trust, access, form, and capacity of the mediation and the mediator are key dimensions of host-migrant confl ict resolution. Th e article suggests that using nonstate confl ict resolution organizations and emphasizing relationships more than technical neutrality can improve the eff ectiveness of mediation involving migrants. I nternational migration has been a key factor accompanying the globalization of the past half-century. As cheaper and faster transportation and communication technologies have made it logistically easier to cross borders, more people have begun to look for economic opportunities or fl ee violent threats in their own countries. However, this displacement of people into new contexts has led to diff erent cultural assumptions, shifting social hierarchies, and changes in the political economy, all of which can escalate confl ict between migrants and their host communities. Th e state is not necessarily a neutral actor in this confl ict, and it often has a political incentive to favor citizens (who vote) and scapegoat migrants (who often do not), blaming them for social problems. Formal state institutions charged with protection and dispute resolution, such as the courts and 410 Pugh, Sulewski, Moreno Conflict Resolution Quarterly •

This article investigates political opportunities and constraints associated with incorporating the concept of universal citizenship into migration debates. Analyzing the speeches of Ecuador's president Rafael Correa over eight years, the article argues that Correa strategically crafted a narrative of universal citizenship to undergird politically beneficial policies. Political constraints from constituents and rivals, and the populist nature of his governing style, hollowed out progressive migration policy innovations to the point that universal citizenship became a rhetorical device more than a substantive policy agenda. Through this empirical case, the article develops a more nuanced critical understanding of universal citizenship discourses as sites for negotiating the relationship between states and migrants.

This article investigates political opportunities and constraints associated with incorporating the concept of universal citizenship into migration debates. Analyzing the speeches of Ecuador's president Rafael Correa over eight years, the article argues that Correa strategically crafted a narrative of universal citizenship to undergird politically beneficial policies. Political constraints from constituents and rivals, and the populist nature of his governing style, hollowed out progressive migration policy innovations to the point that universal citizenship became a rhetorical device more than a substantive policy agenda. Through this empirical case, the article develops a more nuanced critical understanding of universal citizenship discourses as sites for negotiating the relationship between states and migrants.

The city of Quito, Ecuador, began working in 2000 to protect the ecologically fragile watershed area for its drinking water. In order to protect the Papallacta watershed, the independent Fund for the Conservation of Watersheds (FONAG) was launched to finance and manage economically sound sustainability projects in the area. FONAG is funded in part through start up grants from several organisations and a 1 per cent fee on all Quito water bills, but it has been unable to build an endowment sizeable enough to begin implementing conservation projects. We measure perceptions of the fund among Quito's universitybased residents in two settings and evaluate the quality of the fund's proposed communication campaign based on existing communication theory. Further, we propose an adapted environmental education model based on a synthesis of existing theory and the empirical findings from our examination of the FONAG example. The Papallacta case study illuminates the potential strengths and weaknesses of the cultural ecology and political will of this type of collaborative sustainability project for addressing water problems in a developing country in a mountainous setting, centred around the themes of water conservation and sustainable development.