Doctoral Dissertation Research: Intra-regional agreements, migrants, and the state

本项目分析了导致南方共同市场附属国家之间实施居住权协议的过程。南方共同市场是南美洲发展中国家之间的一项区域贸易协定，旨在以保护移民权利而不损害国家安全的方式解决未经授权的移民问题。从2002年开始，成员国的国民可以重新定居，获得合法居留权，并享有公民、经济、文化和社会权利。到2014年，12个南美国家中有9个加入了南方共同市场，并将《居住协议》纳入其国家移民政策。这一政策的广泛适应表明，政策制定者必须在阿根廷、玻利维亚、巴西、智利、巴拉圭和乌拉圭这六个国家的政府官员和移民倡导者中建立对这些协议的支持。本项目分析了导致这六个国家执行协定的进程，以确定促进或阻碍将协定改编为国家立法的行为者和因素。这个项目扩展了我们对区域移民政策如何作为改革国家移民法的工具的理解。该项目还将确定解决非法移民问题的新模式和新战略，为世界各地的政策制定者和倡导者提供信息。具体而言，本项目分析了南方共同市场区域主义对谈判并首先调整《居住权协定》的六个国家的影响。本项目采用比较历史的方法，确定了促进或阻碍居住权协议在国家层面通过的国际力量、地区背景以及国内法律、政治和经济因素。它还确定了影响这一区域到国家政策变化的关键行为者和政策网络。联合首席调查员进行了N=112次访谈，创建了一个区域和国家移民政策数据库，并编制了一个经济增长和贸易指标数据库。总体而言，本研究连接了国际移民和区域主义文献，并确定了改革移民法的新进程。该项目通过具体说明区域移民政策如何决定国家移民政策，为该理论做出了贡献。

This project analyzes the process that led to the national implementation of Residency Agreements among nations affiliated with Mercosur. Mercosur is a regional trade agreement among developing countries in South America that is designed to resolve unauthorized migration in a manner that protects the rights of immigrants without compromising national security. Beginning in 2002 nationals of the affiliated countries could relocate, obtain legal residency, and access civil, economic, cultural, and social rights. By 2014, nine out of twelve South American countries had affiliated with Mercosur and included the Residency Agreements in their national migration policy. The widespread adaptation of this policy suggests that policymakers had to build support for these agreements from government officials and migrant advocates within six countries: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay. This project analyzes the process that led to the national implementation of the agreements in these six countries to identify the actors and factors that facilitated or hindered the agreement's adaptation as national legislation. This project expands our understanding of how regional migration policy can serve as a tool to reform national immigration law. This project will also identify new models and strategies for addressing unauthorized migration that can inform policymakers and advocates around the world. Specifically, this project analyzes the impact of Mercosur regionalism in the six countries that negotiated and first adapted the Residency Agreements. Using comparative historical methods, this project identifies the international forces, regional contexts, and the domestic legal, political, and economic factors that facilitated or hindered the passage of the Residency Agreements at the national level. It also identifies the key actors and the policy networks shaping this regional to national policy change. The Co-Principal Investigator conducted N=112 interviews, created a regional and national migration policy database, and compiled an economic growth and trade indicators database. Overall, this research bridges international migration and regionalism literatures and identifies new processes that reform immigration law. This project contributes to the theory by specifying how regional migration policy is a determinant of national immigration policy.