Brokerage as a Heuristic Framework of Im/mobility Politics

This chapter theorizes a communicative angle of im/mobility politics, defines the terms used, and constructs an analytical framework of the notion of brokerage. The chapter first explains current studies’ modifications of Simmel’s conception to discuss the role of the actor in the systems of exchange and flow of resources and information, further developing discussions of brokerage orientation and relational asymmetry to reflect power relations related to brokerage phenomena. I then explain the theoretical potential of brokerage in a cross-border context, as the notion of broker roles and brokerage relations can specify the roles of participants, broker’s interests, overall benefits, and the shaping of social relations by the actors in the social gap and gap-bridging processes. Through that lens, this research explains how and why the mobilities of people and objects are at stake under certain conditions.