Predictable patterns of unpredictability: a literature review of discretion in migration control
Migration control policies are marked by contradictory policy goals set in a complex web of intersecting international, national, and local regulations. This grants significant discretion to frontline workers. Despite the extensive research undertaken on discretion in migration control, there is a l...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Taylor & Francis Group
2025-12-01
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| Series: | Political Research Exchange |
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| Online Access: | https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/2474736X.2025.2508374 |
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| author | Lisa Marie Borrelli Livia Johannesson Annika Lindberg |
| author_facet | Lisa Marie Borrelli Livia Johannesson Annika Lindberg |
| author_sort | Lisa Marie Borrelli |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Migration control policies are marked by contradictory policy goals set in a complex web of intersecting international, national, and local regulations. This grants significant discretion to frontline workers. Despite the extensive research undertaken on discretion in migration control, there is a lack of comprehensive knowledge on how discretionary practices are patterned across countries and policy domains, what consequences these patterns have for migrants’ lives and for receiving states’ capacity to govern. Based on a systematic review of 125 articles published between 2001 and 2024, this article addresses this gap. Our findings reveal widespread discretionary practices that vary by decision-making situation but share common patterns, such as frontline workers’ perceptions of migrant ‘deservingness’, institutionalized suspicion, and racialized biases. We offer the concept of ‘predictable unpredictability’ to theorize the dynamics of frontline discretion. Itcaptures how discretion produces arbitrary outcomes and can be used as a mode of state control which allows state authorities to govern migration without codifying discriminatory sorting mechanisms in formal policies. By this informalization of power, states can avoid responsibility for harmful outcomes of their migration policies, at the same time as the predictable unpredictability in decision-making offers liminal agency to migrants if they ‘play the game’ of migration control. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-1c02240313a840edaae3f93a557161cf |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 2474-736X |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-12-01 |
| publisher | Taylor & Francis Group |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Political Research Exchange |
| spelling | doaj-art-1c02240313a840edaae3f93a557161cf2025-08-20T01:57:09ZengTaylor & Francis GroupPolitical Research Exchange2474-736X2025-12-017110.1080/2474736X.2025.2508374Predictable patterns of unpredictability: a literature review of discretion in migration controlLisa Marie Borrelli0Livia Johannesson1Annika Lindberg2School of Social Work (HES-SO Valais-Wallis), Institute of Social Work, Siders, SwitzerlandSchool of Public Administration, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, SwedenSchool of Social Work (HES-SO Valais-Wallis), Institute of Social WorkMigration control policies are marked by contradictory policy goals set in a complex web of intersecting international, national, and local regulations. This grants significant discretion to frontline workers. Despite the extensive research undertaken on discretion in migration control, there is a lack of comprehensive knowledge on how discretionary practices are patterned across countries and policy domains, what consequences these patterns have for migrants’ lives and for receiving states’ capacity to govern. Based on a systematic review of 125 articles published between 2001 and 2024, this article addresses this gap. Our findings reveal widespread discretionary practices that vary by decision-making situation but share common patterns, such as frontline workers’ perceptions of migrant ‘deservingness’, institutionalized suspicion, and racialized biases. We offer the concept of ‘predictable unpredictability’ to theorize the dynamics of frontline discretion. Itcaptures how discretion produces arbitrary outcomes and can be used as a mode of state control which allows state authorities to govern migration without codifying discriminatory sorting mechanisms in formal policies. By this informalization of power, states can avoid responsibility for harmful outcomes of their migration policies, at the same time as the predictable unpredictability in decision-making offers liminal agency to migrants if they ‘play the game’ of migration control.https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/2474736X.2025.2508374Discretionliterature reviewmigration controlfrontline workersstate power |
| spellingShingle | Lisa Marie Borrelli Livia Johannesson Annika Lindberg Predictable patterns of unpredictability: a literature review of discretion in migration control Political Research Exchange Discretion literature review migration control frontline workers state power |
| title | Predictable patterns of unpredictability: a literature review of discretion in migration control |
| title_full | Predictable patterns of unpredictability: a literature review of discretion in migration control |
| title_fullStr | Predictable patterns of unpredictability: a literature review of discretion in migration control |
| title_full_unstemmed | Predictable patterns of unpredictability: a literature review of discretion in migration control |
| title_short | Predictable patterns of unpredictability: a literature review of discretion in migration control |
| title_sort | predictable patterns of unpredictability a literature review of discretion in migration control |
| topic | Discretion literature review migration control frontline workers state power |
| url | https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/2474736X.2025.2508374 |
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