Caress Schenk - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
Papers by Caress Schenk
Edinburgh University Press eBooks, Jan 16, 2018
This paper looks at various ways the state works to uphold its image of migration control. It sug... more This paper looks at various ways the state works to uphold its image of migration control. It suggests that rhetoric, the passing of laws, and the use of statistics or official data are important ways in which the state sends messages to the public about immigration control. Moving away from a Weberian perspective, this work engages the theories of the state from Migdal to demonstrate that contradictions between the practices of the state and the image it strives to project does not necessarily create a picture of a state with limited capacity or coordination. Rather it opens up analysis for a nuanced and multifaceted picture of the state
Nationalities Papers
Migrants are an easy, visible Other, seeming to fall neatly into the us-versus-them framework of ... more Migrants are an easy, visible Other, seeming to fall neatly into the us-versus-them framework of nationalism. Nevertheless, much of the scholarly approach to migrant identity, with the partial exception of a largely separate literature on citizenship, has eschewed overt ties to nationalism studies. When us-versus-them language is used in relation to nationalism, the focus or nodal point is the identity of the seemingly homogenous “us” of the nation. However, when migrants are othered, the focus is not always the nation, and while othering migrants always creates exclusion, it is not always exclusion from a nation or identity group. This state of the field article analyzes the literature on populism, securitization, biopolitics, and other critical scholarship related to the issue of othering migrants. In each of these bodies of work, different sets of “us” are set against migrants, some of which evoke identity and others of which do not, elucidating the links (or the lack thereof) of...
Post-Soviet Affairs, 2021
ABSTRACT Immigration control in Russia, one of the world’s top five largest immigrant-receiving c... more ABSTRACT Immigration control in Russia, one of the world’s top five largest immigrant-receiving countries, is rife with corruption and other informal practices. Instead of framing corruption simply as bad governance, this article shows that informal strategies are intertwined with formal state practices to produce immigration control. Instead of presenting corruption as subversive of state institutions and contradictions between formal and informal practices as a signal of system dysfunction, I argue that state actors’ simultaneous formal and informal activities can work together towards a perhaps surprisingly coherent set of goals. Drawing on ethnographic work with migrants and legal-institutional analysis of Russia’s migration sphere, this article demonstrates how felt immigration control, or the experience of migrants, combines legal and informal strategies that center on coercion. It shows how coercive interactions between migrants and state agents produce visible data and media images that are projected to the public as immigration control.
Demokratizatsiya: The Journal of Post-Soviet Democratization, 2016
Russia’s foreign policy is often seen as reactionary and provocative. This article argues that, d... more Russia’s foreign policy is often seen as reactionary and provocative. This article argues that, despite strong rhetorical framing of foreign policy postures by the Russian government, the level of commitment to implementing these outward stances varies. Looking at the hierarchy of legal mechanisms used in Russia, this article develops a novel measure of policy commitment. It then utilizes this measurement to assess how immigration legislation shifts to match foreign policy postures in Russia’s relationships with Turkey, the U.S., and Ukraine. The analysis shows that migration-related sanctions against Turkey in 2015 were largely symbolic, whereas similar sanctions against the West are much more deeply embedded in legislation and implementation. The 2014 flows of refugees from Ukraine were similarly met with comprehensive reforms to the legal framework at many levels.
Since 2007, migrant workers from CIS countries have faced increasingly restrictive work permit qu... more Since 2007, migrant workers from CIS countries have faced increasingly restrictive work permit quotas. Experts estimate there are at least six million migrants in Russia at any given time, yet the quota has decreased dramatically each year and for 2011 is set at just over 1.2 million. Why the government would restrict labor migrants is puzzling considering that the demographic crisis in Russia is most acute among the working age population, making migrants an essential part of the labor market.
The following analysis seeks to locate Russia’s immigration regime in a broader theoretical frame... more The following analysis seeks to locate Russia’s immigration regime in a broader theoretical framework. First it seeks to generally assess a state’s ability to regulate immigration and how nationalism and/or liberalism are used as justificatory discourses. Migration literature is ample in its discussion of the relationship between liberalism and various immigration regimes. It falls silent, however, on the relationship between nationalism and border control. Second, the paper will use the Russian case to fill this gap. The case is particularly appropriate because of the state’s use of nationalism as a justification for restrictive immigration policies. The primary hypothesis in the Russian case is that nationalism has both necessitated and justified changes in the current immigration regime despite the current demographic crisis and consequent need for increasing numbers of migrant workers.
PonarsEuarasia - Policy Memos, 2018
Why Control Immigration?, 2018
It is an exciting time to study migration in the Eurasian region. Migration policies and patterns... more It is an exciting time to study migration in the Eurasian region. Migration policies and patterns are receiving crucial attention from governments, scholars, and activists alike. Old, new, and changing patterns are making important impacts on home and host societies. The region is marked by some of the freest migration in the world through the free labor zone of the Eurasian Economic Union and the visa-free regime of the Commonwealth of Independent States. At the same time, however, it faces restrictions in the form of Soviet-era registration procedures, active use of re-entry bans in Russia, and heavy-handed efforts to regulate emigration in Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. In this context, migration is not only an issue requiring domestic policy attention, but also a critical focus of geopolitical bargaining. Given the political and theoretical salience of migration in the Eurasian region, the NAC-NU Central Asia Studies Program chose as its second theme "external and internal migrations in Central Asia. " The call for papers generated proposals related to the development of Central Asian economies from migration and remittances, the dynamics of migration to Russia (the major destination), rising alternative destinations, and political factors in home and host countries. On the basis of these papers, we convened a conference in Astana in September 2017, which brought together junior and senior scholars with ties to the region and to international academic institutions. This group of scholars is well placed to mediate the empirical work being done in the region and broader theoretical perspectives.
Why Control Immigration?, 2018
Routledge Handbook of Contemporary Central Asia, 2021
PonarsEuarasia - Policy Memos, 2015
In preparation for Romanian and Bulgarian citizens' full access to the EU labor market in... more In preparation for Romanian and Bulgarian citizens' full access to the EU labor market in January 2014, UK Prime Minister David Cameron proposed a new policy agenda that would reduce welfare and employment benefits to migrants from European Union member states, in contravention of EU principles. The proposal launched a debate within the UK about the ability of domestic legislation to counter EU treaty provisions. In light of such debates in a well-established free labor zone, it is to be expected that labor migration in the new Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) will remain a contested issue. Given migration pressures in the EEU zone and a pattern of reliance on domestic regulations over and above multilateral agreements, the provisions for free movement of labor in the EEU treaty are unlikely to usher in a new era of liberalized labor movement.
Labour, Mobility and Informal Practices in Russia, Central Asia and Eastern Europe, 2021
Nationalities Papers, 2020
Migrants are often presented in simplified terms that focus on the threats they experience or pos... more Migrants are often presented in simplified terms that focus on the threats they experience or pose to the host society. This produces an image of migrants who have no agency and are victims of their circumstances or who respond to their circumstances by turning to crime and illegality. In this special issue, we reframe migration by highlighting how migrants leverage the various vulnerabilities they encounter, turning them into agency and self-sufficiency. We explore different types of vulnerability and agency for migrants in the Eurasian region, which often originate from the same sources, including structural factors, state and governance practices, social networks, and gender roles. Through interactions with a variety of state and nonstate actors, migrants have the ability to make choices that reduce uncertainty and risk in their migration environment and on returning home. These choices coexist with vulnerability and a lack of formal rights but do not replace them, creating compl...
Edinburgh University Press, 2018
Despite increasingly securitized anti-migrant policies in Russia, President Vladimir Putin has be... more Despite increasingly securitized anti-migrant policies in Russia, President Vladimir Putin has been extremely cautious in his rhetoric about international migrants, avoiding overtly ethno-nationalist frames. By repeatedly emphasizing the role of migrants in development and their potential for integration, Putin has charted out a statist agenda, outlining how immigration can contribute to the state’s goals. This chapter analyses a series of Putin’s speeches, asking whether he employs the rhetoric of three common migration myths: ‘migrants take our jobs’; ‘migrants are culturally incompatible with the host society’; and ‘migrants represent a security threat’. While these myths are partially consistent with public opinion, they are not actively employed by the Kremlin. These findings temper the notion of an ‘ethnic turn’ in Russian politics and are especially surprising, given the current populist swing experienced throughout much of the Western world.
Why Control Immigration?, 2018
Vestnik Tomskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta. Istoriya, 2019
На основе историографического анализа книги С. Ловелла рассматривается роль радио в жизни советск... more На основе историографического анализа книги С. Ловелла рассматривается роль радио в жизни советского общества в 1920-1960-е гг. Характеризуется место радио в медиакоммуникационной среде. Обосновывается идеологическая роль радио в контексте планов коммунистического строительства. Показан вклад Лоуэлла в изучение политической и социокультурной истории советского радио. Делается вывод об ограниченных возможностях авторитарной власти использовать технические медиа для реализации политических целей. Ключевые слова: радио; история медиа; советский проект; советская идеология; политический контроль.
The Oxford Handbook of Migration Crises, 2018
Although on the periphery of the migrant-receiving world as traditionally conceived, Russia is we... more Although on the periphery of the migrant-receiving world as traditionally conceived, Russia is well entrenched in the global migration crisis. Migration crisis in Russia is largely a political construction, yet it is often framed as any other type of crisis (e.g. terrorism, geopolitical conflict, economic crisis), marked by a perception of existential threat, urgent public pressure, and uncertainty. This discussion of Russian policymakers’ approach shows how routinizing crisis decision making, through repeated reactionary moves that are institutionalized into law, creates continued crisis feedback loops that reinforce short-term policy horizons and fails to address long-standing demographic and labor market problems related to migration.
Thesis (M.A.)--Wright State University, 2005. Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (le... more Thesis (M.A.)--Wright State University, 2005. Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 108-124).
Edinburgh University Press eBooks, Jan 16, 2018
This paper looks at various ways the state works to uphold its image of migration control. It sug... more This paper looks at various ways the state works to uphold its image of migration control. It suggests that rhetoric, the passing of laws, and the use of statistics or official data are important ways in which the state sends messages to the public about immigration control. Moving away from a Weberian perspective, this work engages the theories of the state from Migdal to demonstrate that contradictions between the practices of the state and the image it strives to project does not necessarily create a picture of a state with limited capacity or coordination. Rather it opens up analysis for a nuanced and multifaceted picture of the state
Nationalities Papers
Migrants are an easy, visible Other, seeming to fall neatly into the us-versus-them framework of ... more Migrants are an easy, visible Other, seeming to fall neatly into the us-versus-them framework of nationalism. Nevertheless, much of the scholarly approach to migrant identity, with the partial exception of a largely separate literature on citizenship, has eschewed overt ties to nationalism studies. When us-versus-them language is used in relation to nationalism, the focus or nodal point is the identity of the seemingly homogenous “us” of the nation. However, when migrants are othered, the focus is not always the nation, and while othering migrants always creates exclusion, it is not always exclusion from a nation or identity group. This state of the field article analyzes the literature on populism, securitization, biopolitics, and other critical scholarship related to the issue of othering migrants. In each of these bodies of work, different sets of “us” are set against migrants, some of which evoke identity and others of which do not, elucidating the links (or the lack thereof) of...
Post-Soviet Affairs, 2021
ABSTRACT Immigration control in Russia, one of the world’s top five largest immigrant-receiving c... more ABSTRACT Immigration control in Russia, one of the world’s top five largest immigrant-receiving countries, is rife with corruption and other informal practices. Instead of framing corruption simply as bad governance, this article shows that informal strategies are intertwined with formal state practices to produce immigration control. Instead of presenting corruption as subversive of state institutions and contradictions between formal and informal practices as a signal of system dysfunction, I argue that state actors’ simultaneous formal and informal activities can work together towards a perhaps surprisingly coherent set of goals. Drawing on ethnographic work with migrants and legal-institutional analysis of Russia’s migration sphere, this article demonstrates how felt immigration control, or the experience of migrants, combines legal and informal strategies that center on coercion. It shows how coercive interactions between migrants and state agents produce visible data and media images that are projected to the public as immigration control.
Demokratizatsiya: The Journal of Post-Soviet Democratization, 2016
Russia’s foreign policy is often seen as reactionary and provocative. This article argues that, d... more Russia’s foreign policy is often seen as reactionary and provocative. This article argues that, despite strong rhetorical framing of foreign policy postures by the Russian government, the level of commitment to implementing these outward stances varies. Looking at the hierarchy of legal mechanisms used in Russia, this article develops a novel measure of policy commitment. It then utilizes this measurement to assess how immigration legislation shifts to match foreign policy postures in Russia’s relationships with Turkey, the U.S., and Ukraine. The analysis shows that migration-related sanctions against Turkey in 2015 were largely symbolic, whereas similar sanctions against the West are much more deeply embedded in legislation and implementation. The 2014 flows of refugees from Ukraine were similarly met with comprehensive reforms to the legal framework at many levels.
Since 2007, migrant workers from CIS countries have faced increasingly restrictive work permit qu... more Since 2007, migrant workers from CIS countries have faced increasingly restrictive work permit quotas. Experts estimate there are at least six million migrants in Russia at any given time, yet the quota has decreased dramatically each year and for 2011 is set at just over 1.2 million. Why the government would restrict labor migrants is puzzling considering that the demographic crisis in Russia is most acute among the working age population, making migrants an essential part of the labor market.
The following analysis seeks to locate Russia’s immigration regime in a broader theoretical frame... more The following analysis seeks to locate Russia’s immigration regime in a broader theoretical framework. First it seeks to generally assess a state’s ability to regulate immigration and how nationalism and/or liberalism are used as justificatory discourses. Migration literature is ample in its discussion of the relationship between liberalism and various immigration regimes. It falls silent, however, on the relationship between nationalism and border control. Second, the paper will use the Russian case to fill this gap. The case is particularly appropriate because of the state’s use of nationalism as a justification for restrictive immigration policies. The primary hypothesis in the Russian case is that nationalism has both necessitated and justified changes in the current immigration regime despite the current demographic crisis and consequent need for increasing numbers of migrant workers.
PonarsEuarasia - Policy Memos, 2018
Why Control Immigration?, 2018
It is an exciting time to study migration in the Eurasian region. Migration policies and patterns... more It is an exciting time to study migration in the Eurasian region. Migration policies and patterns are receiving crucial attention from governments, scholars, and activists alike. Old, new, and changing patterns are making important impacts on home and host societies. The region is marked by some of the freest migration in the world through the free labor zone of the Eurasian Economic Union and the visa-free regime of the Commonwealth of Independent States. At the same time, however, it faces restrictions in the form of Soviet-era registration procedures, active use of re-entry bans in Russia, and heavy-handed efforts to regulate emigration in Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. In this context, migration is not only an issue requiring domestic policy attention, but also a critical focus of geopolitical bargaining. Given the political and theoretical salience of migration in the Eurasian region, the NAC-NU Central Asia Studies Program chose as its second theme "external and internal migrations in Central Asia. " The call for papers generated proposals related to the development of Central Asian economies from migration and remittances, the dynamics of migration to Russia (the major destination), rising alternative destinations, and political factors in home and host countries. On the basis of these papers, we convened a conference in Astana in September 2017, which brought together junior and senior scholars with ties to the region and to international academic institutions. This group of scholars is well placed to mediate the empirical work being done in the region and broader theoretical perspectives.
Why Control Immigration?, 2018
Routledge Handbook of Contemporary Central Asia, 2021
PonarsEuarasia - Policy Memos, 2015
In preparation for Romanian and Bulgarian citizens' full access to the EU labor market in... more In preparation for Romanian and Bulgarian citizens' full access to the EU labor market in January 2014, UK Prime Minister David Cameron proposed a new policy agenda that would reduce welfare and employment benefits to migrants from European Union member states, in contravention of EU principles. The proposal launched a debate within the UK about the ability of domestic legislation to counter EU treaty provisions. In light of such debates in a well-established free labor zone, it is to be expected that labor migration in the new Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) will remain a contested issue. Given migration pressures in the EEU zone and a pattern of reliance on domestic regulations over and above multilateral agreements, the provisions for free movement of labor in the EEU treaty are unlikely to usher in a new era of liberalized labor movement.
Labour, Mobility and Informal Practices in Russia, Central Asia and Eastern Europe, 2021
Nationalities Papers, 2020
Migrants are often presented in simplified terms that focus on the threats they experience or pos... more Migrants are often presented in simplified terms that focus on the threats they experience or pose to the host society. This produces an image of migrants who have no agency and are victims of their circumstances or who respond to their circumstances by turning to crime and illegality. In this special issue, we reframe migration by highlighting how migrants leverage the various vulnerabilities they encounter, turning them into agency and self-sufficiency. We explore different types of vulnerability and agency for migrants in the Eurasian region, which often originate from the same sources, including structural factors, state and governance practices, social networks, and gender roles. Through interactions with a variety of state and nonstate actors, migrants have the ability to make choices that reduce uncertainty and risk in their migration environment and on returning home. These choices coexist with vulnerability and a lack of formal rights but do not replace them, creating compl...
Edinburgh University Press, 2018
Despite increasingly securitized anti-migrant policies in Russia, President Vladimir Putin has be... more Despite increasingly securitized anti-migrant policies in Russia, President Vladimir Putin has been extremely cautious in his rhetoric about international migrants, avoiding overtly ethno-nationalist frames. By repeatedly emphasizing the role of migrants in development and their potential for integration, Putin has charted out a statist agenda, outlining how immigration can contribute to the state’s goals. This chapter analyses a series of Putin’s speeches, asking whether he employs the rhetoric of three common migration myths: ‘migrants take our jobs’; ‘migrants are culturally incompatible with the host society’; and ‘migrants represent a security threat’. While these myths are partially consistent with public opinion, they are not actively employed by the Kremlin. These findings temper the notion of an ‘ethnic turn’ in Russian politics and are especially surprising, given the current populist swing experienced throughout much of the Western world.
Why Control Immigration?, 2018
Vestnik Tomskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta. Istoriya, 2019
На основе историографического анализа книги С. Ловелла рассматривается роль радио в жизни советск... more На основе историографического анализа книги С. Ловелла рассматривается роль радио в жизни советского общества в 1920-1960-е гг. Характеризуется место радио в медиакоммуникационной среде. Обосновывается идеологическая роль радио в контексте планов коммунистического строительства. Показан вклад Лоуэлла в изучение политической и социокультурной истории советского радио. Делается вывод об ограниченных возможностях авторитарной власти использовать технические медиа для реализации политических целей. Ключевые слова: радио; история медиа; советский проект; советская идеология; политический контроль.
The Oxford Handbook of Migration Crises, 2018
Although on the periphery of the migrant-receiving world as traditionally conceived, Russia is we... more Although on the periphery of the migrant-receiving world as traditionally conceived, Russia is well entrenched in the global migration crisis. Migration crisis in Russia is largely a political construction, yet it is often framed as any other type of crisis (e.g. terrorism, geopolitical conflict, economic crisis), marked by a perception of existential threat, urgent public pressure, and uncertainty. This discussion of Russian policymakers’ approach shows how routinizing crisis decision making, through repeated reactionary moves that are institutionalized into law, creates continued crisis feedback loops that reinforce short-term policy horizons and fails to address long-standing demographic and labor market problems related to migration.
Thesis (M.A.)--Wright State University, 2005. Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (le... more Thesis (M.A.)--Wright State University, 2005. Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 108-124).