The battle of numbers: Refugee protection, race, and Neoliberal politics of bureaucratic efficiency

Authors

  • Azar Masoumi York University

Keywords:

Law and bureaucracies, race and racialization, Neoliberal governance, Derecho y burocracias, raza y racialización, gobernanza neoliberal

Abstract

This paper examines the early years of systematic refugee claim processing in Canada to explore the ways neoliberal bureaucratic practices rely on and (re)produce racialization in their day to day operations. I argue that due to the rise of neoliberalism, systematic refugee protection in Canada has come to exclude claimants who have borne the label of economic migrant. Furthermore, I argue that the exclusion of economic migrants from refugee protection has been a racialized and racializing project. The institutional procedures that worked to exclude these migrants inherited, drew upon, and reproduced racialized knowledges about certain national groupings. Racialization of economic migrants provided the claim processing bureaucracy with quick and efficient means of screening large numbers of claimants out of their workload. Thus, I argue that neoliberal governance of refugee claims in Canada has been a racialized and racializing bureaucratic practice.

El artículo examina los primeros años de proceso sistemático de solicitudes de asilo en Canadá para explorar la forma en que las prácticas burocráticas neoliberales se apoyan en, y (re)producen, la racialización en sus actividades cotidianas. Argumento que, debido al auge del neoliberalismo, la protección sistemática a los refugiados en Canadá ha terminado excluyendo a solicitantes que llevan la etiqueta de migrantes económicos, y que la exclusión de los migrantes económicos de la protección a los refugiados ha sido un proyecto racializado y racializante. Los procedimientos institucionales que han servido para excluir a dichos migrantes heredan conocimiento racializado sobre determinados grupos nacionales. La racialización de los migrantes económicos ha proporcionado a la burocracia de procesamiento de solicitudes unos medios rápidos y eficaces de excluir a numerosos solicitantes del sistema. Por tanto, argumento que la gobernanza neoliberal de solicitudes de asilo en Canadá ha sido una práctica burocrática racializada y racializante.

Available from: https://doi.org/10.35295/osls.iisl/0000-0000-0000-1047

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How to Cite

Masoumi, A. (2020) “The battle of numbers: Refugee protection, race, and Neoliberal politics of bureaucratic efficiency”, Oñati Socio-Legal Series, 10(6), pp. 1084–1106. Available at: https://opo.iisj.net/index.php/osls/article/view/1040 (Accessed: 29 May 2023).

Issue

Vol. 10 No. 6 (2020): Governing the Political: Law and the Politics of Resistance

Section

Thematic Articles

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