International Migration and the Global Agenda: Reflections on the 1988 UN Technical Symposium
Author(s)
Castles, Stephen
Abstract
As a cross-border phenomenon affecting many countries, migration should be an important area for international cooperation. Yet such cooperation has been slow to emerge. Politically, the topic has been marked by interest conflicts and differing national policy approaches. As a field of social scientific research, it has been characterized by fragmentation according to disciplines, paradigms, methodologies and ideologies. The 1998 United Nations Technical Symposium on International Migration and Development was therefore highly significant as a step towards a global response, although as a meeting of experts it fell short of the intergovernmental deliberations some states (especially emigration countries) have called for.
