The Contribution of Marxist Perspective on International Migration Research

• In Event: Colonialism, Neocolonialism, Borders, and Migration

Abstract

The world has witnessed the most intensive refugee flows in the last decade. Especially marking the timeline with the emergence of the Syrian civil war started in 2011, the figures have started to concern public opinion from different aspects, either as fear of displaced people in their countries or humanitarian distress. The statistics provided by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) should yet push scholars and policymakers to cooperate for a novel approach as an international refugee regime. According to UNHCR, at the end of 2022, 108.4 million people were forcibly displaced all around the world, and nearly 30% of them will consist of refugees under UNHCR’s mandate (unhcr.org, 2024). The climbing trajectory of these numbers is quite stressing the humanitarian concerns, too.

This research aims to prompt the question of how critical theories can contribute to understanding and analyzing current international movements rather than mainstream theories. Therefore, propose the contribution of critical theories to international migration, especially Marxist and neo-Marxist frameworks. I apply Türkiye as a case study to conduct this analysis. To do so, I attempt to expose the hidden institutions, relationships, and concepts in international migration research in Türkiye that utilize mainstream theories and analyze Türkiye’s international management policies through a critical neo-Marxist framework. This research, therefore, outlines the differences between critical and problem-solving theories, explains the core of the Marxist and neo-Marxist application to real-world issues, and their point of view on international migration. Marxism has a remarkable standpoint in explaining migration through class politics and economics. Generally, Marxism aims to expose the hidden relationships of a bourgeoise worldview. Additionally, from the point of state policies, it also serves to understand governments’ intention and role in migration management. Therefore, Marxism can provide an alternative way to approach the migration management process of governments to the extent of why and how they are willing to manage migration. The explanation may be done in two ways: First, by interpreting the migration and refugee issues through the inequalities caused by global capitalism and uneven development; second, by defining the migrants’ and refugees’ problems in the context of class relations in the country.

After framing these, I retrospectively summarize Türkiye’s international migration policies (IMP) and research (IMR). In analyses, I provide a map of Türkiye’s IMP and IMR that concludes the main themes, concepts, and theoretical applications and critically overview them from a neo-Marxist framework to discuss the contribution of critical theories in international migration. Since mainstream theories are accused of ignoring historical background, global integrity, and hidden exploitation relationships, I found it valuable to expose these factors by employing critical theories.

All in all, the motivation behind this research is assuming that migrants’ and refugees’ lives have been shaped by the economic exploitation of the capital through the implicit approval of Governments and the impact of developed countries on the root causes of migratory movements in less developed, to make it clear the Third World, countries. Therefore, looking into Governments’ IMP through a critical approach instead of mainstream theories may elicit hidden agendas. Critically overviewing IMR by scholars in these countries may also provide better alternative solutions to the real-world issues related to international migration governance in countries, as academic research should be one of the main sources of policymaking in public administration.

Author

• Atahan Demirkol, Afyon Kocatepe University