Making migration knowable and governable: Benchmarking practices as technologies of global migration governance

Abstract

Using the theoretical toolkit of material-semiotics, this article theorizes global migration governance as a governing technology that constitutes migration as an object of global governance. Methodologically, the analysis draws on event observation of the International Organization for Migration's International Dialogue on Migration. Empirically, the article uses the illustrative example of the International Organization for Migration's Migration Governance Index to make the case for a material-semiotic account of global migration governance more concrete. Overall, the article seeks to examine and enhance the contribution that practice-theoretical approaches make to the analysis of global governance.