Publications

DESCRIPTIONS OF WORKING PAPERS - No 9

Migration Research and Policy Landscape:
Case Studies of Australia, the Philippines and Thailand

Robyn Iredale, Tim Turpin, Charles Hawksley, Stella Go, Supaphan Kanchai and Yee May Kuang

 

Background

This project was initiated by Dr Nadia Auriat of UNESCO-MOST at the 3rd International Conference of the APMRN in Tokyo, September 1999. The aim was to investigate the links between policy makers and social scientific researchers in the Asia Pacific region. This has been receiving greater attention in recent years. The UNESCO-MOST Programme has funded the APMRN since 1995 to assist with understanding migration and settlement policy in the Asia Pacific region. It began as a regional project based on the collaboration of migration and ethnic relations scholars in the countries of East Asia (China, Japan, Sth. Korea, Hong Kong); South East Asia (Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, the Philippines, Thailand) and the Pacific (Australia, New Zealand, and the countries of the Pacific Islands). In 2001, the APMRN expanded into South Asia (Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and India) and now involves scholars in 17 networks or economies. Personnel from international organisations, national governments and NGOs participate in local network meetings and in international activities.

Aims and research method

This project is concerned with the ways that research networks, such as the APMRN, inform the policy process. It is not however an evaluation of the APMRN. It is a more a study into the extent to which, and how, migration research has an impact on migration policy. The aim has been to investigate this relationship generally, and then to consider the particular role of the APMRN.

Major findings and implications for migration research networks

Major findings that emerge from the study include the following:

1. knowledge of the political and economic context of each country varies and needs to be understood as it provides the context for policy making;
   
2. the relationship between research and policy processes varies considerably across countries - in some countries the policy process is 'tightly' managed by a single department (such as in Australia) while in others there is a more diverse administrative approach to migration policy (such as in Thailand);
   
3. the impact of research is more direct and conclusive when research has been commissioned directly by government or involves close collaboration with government;
   
4. migration policy processes in all case study countries appear increasingly responsive to public opinion, rather than the findings of academic research, and thus indicate the important (but more amorphous) indirect policy impact from academic research;
   
5. given this situation, the need to disseminate results widely is evident;
   
6. migration researchers are inevitably 'biased' towards certain methodologies and theoretical perspectives and therefore a wide range of opinions is valuable.

General lessons for migration research networks follow from these observations

1. the most striking impact of migration research on policy is through indirect mechanisms. Therefore, it is important that networks such as APMRN seek to influence public opinion as well as policy makers. Neither is an easy task. However, involving well-organised and articulate NGOs in research networks should help inform the debates to which such NGOs contribute.
   
   

2. researchers in the network should recognise that their research outcomes are un-likely to influence policy makers simply through academic publications. They will need to adopt 'dissemination mechanisms' to inform public debate in areas where their respective governments are either leading or being led by their electorates.

3. since the most direct route to policy impact is through research directly commissioned by government agencies, research networks should explore 'inclusive' options for drawing government agencies into network debates. This might be through invitation to specially targeted workshops or through on-going representation within networks.

This full version of this report provides a useful starting point from which to re-examine the way that we operate. The findings from this pilot study will be discussed at the Fiji conference so that we can improve on the impact of the APMRN.

The APMRN Secretariat would like to thank the researchers from the Philippines and Thailand for their enormous contributions to this project. Without their valuable work we would not have been able to draw out the comparative elements and show that the nature of migration policy is unique for each country.