Panel 11: Contesting Borders, Reimagining Mobility: Perspectives on Migration Regimes and Governance (EN)

Chair:

Ajay Kumar, Amity University Haryana

Sunil Choudhary, Amity University Rajasthan

This panel explores the contested landscape of migration governance through the lens of mobility regimes, highlighting the enduring asymmetries between the Global North and South. In a global context marked by demographic transitions, rising inequality, and resurgent nationalisms, human mobility has become a site of political contestation and negotiation. The panel interrogates the governance, externalisation and conceptualisation of mobility across border spaces, and the reimagining of dominant frameworks for managing migration through decolonial epistemologies.

A central concern is the enduring bias in migration norms rooted in colonial and Cold War Eurocentric legacies, shaping who moves, how, and under what terms. This prioritises the host country’s sovereignty and economic utility while sidelining human rights, historical injustices, and migrant agency. Contemporary migration regimes are increasingly codified through bilateral and regional agreements, such as the EU’s partnerships with countries in the Global South. India’s mobility diplomacy with the European Union, for instance, reflects both the possibilities and constraints of labour migration shaped by global inequality and domestic political considerations.

The panel also critically engages with the externalisation of migration management through third-country agreements, border outsourcing, and securitisation measures. This mechanism serves to insulate destination states from any humanitarian responsibilities, while redefining the borders of Europe far beyond its territory. This expansion of borders reveals how mobility is regulated not just by geography, but by legal, political, and discursive infrastructures.

Together, the panel calls for a rethinking of mobility regimes that moves beyond transactional governance toward inclusive, historically grounded, and ethically just frameworks that respond to contemporary challenges.

Keywords: Migration Governance; Labour Mobility; Decolonial Perspectives; Externalisation; Border Spaces