Metagovernance of migration policy in the Asia Pacific region: an analysis of policy tools

Abstract

This article considers how nation states steer transnational forums by examining how the Australian government has ‘metagoverned’ the Bali Process on People Smuggling, Trafficking in Persons and Related Transnational Crime, a multilateral forum with 50 plus members (nation states and international agencies) that was created in 2002 to promote policy dialogue, information sharing and practical cooperation on irregular migration in the Asia Pacific region. A ‘tools-based approach’ is used to analyse the Australian government’s metagovernance of this forum across four dimensions: nodality; authority; treasure; organisation. The overall finding is that Australia has accumulated steering capacity across each of these dimensions and that a ‘tools-based approach’ to metagovernance offers a promising way of understanding differences in steering capacity within transnational forums.