Objetive/Context:

Although the idea of “orderly migration” has been circulating for more than a half-century, recently it has gained international popularity because of its integration into the 2018 Global Compact for Migration. From a critical perspective, this work aims tracking what orderly migration refers to as well as understanding how the regional level internalized the idea through multilateralism. For this purpose, the work reviews the capacity-building mechanism implemented in the 16 Regional Consultative Processes (RCP) on global migrations.

Methodology:

Through content analysis, the research examined Key official material from the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the RCP. Particularly, the focus is on the documents produced by the Global Meetings of Chairs and Secretariats of RCP.

Conclusions:

Findings show that orderly migration is an idea malleable to global trends on migration control. The construction of migration as a common problem that requires “shared solutions” enables the use of an asymmetric and co-optive migration multilateralism. By means of this type of multilateralism, the hegemonic ideas turn into consensus in non-binding political spaces, such as RCPs. Thus, RCPs appear as privileged spaces for spreading capacity building-related notions oriented to the implementation of migration control policies. This results in a higher complexity of contemporary policy making in this field.

Originality:

The text enlightens the development of those ideas that subsequently inspired migration policy in different world regions. So far, the literature has not paid due attention to the impact that the idea of orderly migration has had on the political field of migrations. This work contributes to fill this gap by proposing a historical overview of the changes this idea has expierenced over the years.