The EU Migration-Development Nexus and the Stratification of Migration

In its endeavors to reduce irregular migration, the European Union (EU) closely connects migration and asylum issues to the development of origin states. At the same time, the EU aims to increase its own competitiveness and economic growth via labor migration. The EU thus forges what has been termed a migration-development nexus. This chapter studies the EU approach to the nexus through a novel perspective focusing on stratification. This perspective sheds light on the sorting function of the migration-development nexus for the EU: While the EU generally aims at reducing migration, it indeed simultaneously tries to stimulate some economically wanted forms of migration. The chapter argues that these contradictory objectives are the result of the four conflicting identities of the EU at the intersection of migration and development: (1) The community EU, which aims at creating internal security and a sense of belonging for EU citizens; (2) the welfare EU, through ensuring their welfare; (3) the liberal EU, through being a normative international development actor; and (4) the competitive EU, through the creation of a competitive internal market. The amalgamation of these four conflicting identities leads to an EU that contributes to the stratification of migration opportunities based on the socioeconomic background of migrants and their sociocultural heterogeneity vis-à-vis the host society by reducing unwanted migration, while simultaneously selecting wanted migration.