Migrants and monarchs: regime survival, state transformation and migration politics in Saudi Arabia

Thiollet, Hélène

doi:10.1080/01436597.2021.1948325

Cited by 9 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 45 publications

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“…30 In Saudi Arabia, Thiollet argues, migration governance is predominantly about political control, and marked by a certain "immigration denial," the insistence on keeping migration temporary through rhetoric and policies. 31 Such immigration denial echoes discourses elsewhere: (permanent) immigration becomes a social, political, cultural issue, while (temporary) migration is portrayed as purely economic. 32 A certain discourse of hospitality surrounding refugee issues, present in the MENA region and beyond, can underpin such ad-hocratic policies.…”

Section: Refugee Governance and Non-signatory Statesmentioning

confidence: 95%

“…In line with Saudi policies towards the new Eritrean leadership, only certain opponents of the new regime were granted asylum after the end of the war. 135 In 2006, UNHCR was providing assistance to a group of Eritrean "ex-military refugees" who had been provided a temporary status by the government and the UNHCR's task was mainly monitoring the situation as well as seeking resettlement for these refugees. 136 The expenses of the support provided to the specific group of Eritrean refugees was covered by the Saudi government.…”

Section: Providing Refuge Through Royal Orders (1960s-1990s)mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Governing Refugees in Saudi Arabia (1948–2022)

Lysa¹

2022

Refugee Survey Quarterly

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Saudi Arabia is a non-signatory state to the Refugee Convention, with no domestic refugee law. Its refugee population is generally not categorised as such. Based on these facts, Saudi Arabia is largely missing from the refugee studies literature in general, and the increasing scholarship on refugee protection in states not signatory to the Refugee Convention in particular. What characterises refugee governance in wealthy, non-signatory states with a largely invisible refugee population? And, how does the “Saudi approach” to refugee protection relate to those of other non-signatory states? Based on hitherto unresearched archival material, interviews, and openly available sources it argues that while there are no legal framework for governing refugees in Saudi Arabia, the state has adopted ad-hocratic policies, which nevertheless followed a certain pattern when refugee situations emerge. This ad-hocratic approach is similar to that found in other non-signatory states in the Middle East and North Africa; the state responds to particular situations based on nationality or ethno-religious affiliations, keeping refugees strictly temporary and often on opaque terms. Where the situation in Saudi Arabia differs, is in the role undertaken by UNHCR who instead of acting as a “surrogate state” takes on a lobbying and monitoring role.

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Section: Refugee Governance and Non-signatory Statesmentioning

confidence: 95%

Section: Providing Refuge Through Royal Orders (1960s-1990s)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Governing Refugees in Saudi Arabia (1948–2022)

Lysa¹

2022

Refugee Survey Quarterly

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“…Making a departure from the focus of existing studies on Western democracies, some scholars have conducted studies on immigration policies in the Middle East, Africa, Latin America and Asia (Abdelaaty 2021; González-Murphy and Koslowski 2011; Kalicki 2019; Paoletti 2011; Sadiq 2009; Thiollet 2022). A considerable body of literature on immigration policy in Russia and Kazakhstan also offers insights into migration governance (Abashin 2017; Buckley 2017; Denisenko 2017; Dyatlov 2009; Glathe 2020; Gulina 2019; Heusala 2018; Ivakhnyuk 2009; Joo 2022; Kingsbury 2017; Kubal 2019; Laruelle 2013; Light 2016; Malakhov 2014; Mukomel’ 2005; Oka 2013; Ryazantsev 2007; Sadovskaya 2014; Schenk 2018; Shevel 2011; Turaeva and Urinboyev 2021; Zayonchkovskaya et al 2011; Zeveleva 2014).…”

Section: Existing Literaturementioning

confidence: 99%

Elections and Immigration Policy in Autocracy: Evidence from Russia and Kazakhstan

Joo

2022

Gov. & oppos.

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Why do some authoritarian states adopt more restrictive immigration policies than others? Much of the existing literature focuses on the politics of immigration in democracies, despite the presence of large-scale immigration to autocracies. In this article, I argue that the level of electoral competition can be a key factor in immigration policymaking in electoral autocracies. Autocrats who face high levels of electoral competition tend to impose immigration restrictions as a way of mobilizing anti-outgroup sentiment and boosting their own popularity. I test this hypothesis by conducting comparative case studies on Russia and Kazakhstan, both of which are major immigrant-receiving autocracies. Based on the analysis of original data gathered from 11 months of fieldwork in the two countries, I find that the relatively high level of electoral competition in Russia in the 2010s facilitated increased immigration restrictions, while Kazakhstan depoliticized labour immigrants and enacted a de facto open immigration policy in the absence of electoral competition.

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“…In line with broader criticism of Euro or Western centrism within the social sciences, however, the recent 'reflexive turn' in migration studies has triggered calls for decentring Europe, and 'recentering the South in studies of migration' (Fiddian-Qasmiyeh, 2020). In this vein, empirical studies of migration governance across the Middle East and Africa have flourished over the past few years (e.g., Adam et al, 2020;El Qadim, 2015;Geha & Talhouk, 2019;Gisselquist & Tarp, 2019;Mouthaan, 2019;Natter, 2021b;Stock et al, 2019;Tsourapas, 2019;Thiollet, 2015Thiollet, , 2021. Such a decentring approach enables to 'pluralize' our understanding of migration governance (Triandafyllidou, 2020): it encompasses an 'everyday politics' perspective that considers not only the role of state actors in non-EU countries, but also the perspective of those 'beyond the policy-making elite' (Zardo & Wolff, 2021, p. 2; see also Gross-Wyrtzen & Gazzotti, 2021).…”

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confidence: 99%

Embracing complexity in ‘Southern’ migration governance

Gazzotti

Mouthaan

Natter

2022

Territory, Politics, Governance

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This special issue argues for a more complex understanding of migration policy 'beyond Fortress Europe'. It advocates a twofold approach that (1) historicizes the domestic contexts of migration governance across the Middle East, North, West and Central Africa; and (2) unpacks the conflicts, internal contradictions and coalitions within the policy communities in these four regions. In this introduction we outline the empirical and conceptual contributions of the special issue to calls for putting 'the South' centre stage in migration studies and to recent work on border externalization in countries of 'origin' and 'transit'. On the one hand, the articles in this special issue analyse how trans/national historical legacies of state formation and mobility politics shape actors' priorities, discourses and behaviours around migration control until today. At the same time, they delve into the heterogeneity of what is often simply referred to as 'local authorities' or 'domestic civil society' and highlight the tensions and also unexpected alliances among local, national and international actors participating in migration governance. Hereby, this special issue invites migration scholarship to embrace the complexity of 'Southern' contexts and actors to better grasp the power dynamics (re)shaping global migration, its control and resistances to it.

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Migrants and monarchs: regime survival, state transformation and migration politics in Saudi Arabia

Cited by 9 publications

References 45 publications

Governing Refugees in Saudi Arabia (1948–2022)

Governing Refugees in Saudi Arabia (1948–2022)

Elections and Immigration Policy in Autocracy: Evidence from Russia and Kazakhstan

Embracing complexity in ‘Southern’ migration governance

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