Migration and citizenship have emerged as defining questions of contemporary politics, reshaping debates on sovereignty, statehood, democracy, human rights, and political belonging. In recent years, Europe has experienced renewed political contestation over migration through refugee movements, irregular migration across the Mediterranean, the displacement generated by the war in Ukraine, and the electoral rise of nationalist and populist movements. These developments have transformed migration from a policy issue into one of the central questions of democratic governance and international politics.
At the same time, South Asia presents a distinct yet equally significant political landscape. Despite hosting some of the world's largest refugee, displaced, and stateless populations—including Rohingya, Afghan, Tibetan, Sri Lankan Tamil, and other cross-border communities—the region lacks a common refugee protection regime and remains outside the 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol, with most states relying on domestic policies and ad hoc humanitarian responses. This raises important questions regarding citizenship, legal identity, state responsibility, regional cooperation, and the politics of inclusion and exclusion.
This panel invites theoretical, empirical, and comparative contributions that critically examine the evolving relationship between migration and citizenship across diverse political and regional contexts. It seeks to engage with questions such as: How are contemporary migration movements redefining citizenship and political membership? How do states reconcile border security with international human rights obligations? What explains the divergence between European institutional frameworks and South Asian governance approaches? How are nationalism, populism, identity politics, and securitization reshaping migration policies? What role do international organisations, regional institutions, and civil society play in addressing displacement and statelessness? How are climate change, technological transformation, and demographic shifts influencing future migration governance?
By fostering dialogue across comparative politics, international relations, political theory, public policy, and migration studies, this panel aims to advance new theoretical and empirical perspectives on migration and citizenship in an era of increasing human mobility, geopolitical uncertainty, and contested political belonging. It welcomes contributions employing qualitative, quantitative, mixed-methods, and interdisciplinary approaches from scholars working across the Global North and Global South.