Abstract
In this chapter the authors assess the application of the circular migration framework to the six Gulf Cooperation Council member states of Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, and Oman. By some estimations, the six GCC states comprise the third largest migratory destination in the contemporary world, and for decades these states have hosted large transient migrant populations that, in some manner or another, appear to fit the definition of circular migration. Through an analysis of migration to the Gulf States this chapter provides an empirical contribution to the expanding discussion of circular migration. In this chapter the nexus between the Gulf migration system and the circular migration framework is configured around two focal points. After an overview of migration in the Gulf States, the authors first examine the policy frameworks that regulate and govern migration to the GCC. Second, using an ethnographic lens, the authors explore the experiences of the migrants at work in the region. They conclude with a discussion of the implications of promoting the circular migration framework in the region.
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Notes
- 1.
See ESCWA (2007).
- 2.
A string of research projects underpin this research. Those projects were funded and sponsored by a variety of institutions, including the Fulbright Program, the Wenner-Gren Foundation, the Bahrain Training Institute, Qatar University, and the Center for International and Regional Studies at the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service in Qatar. In addition, this paper relies heavily on research funded by the Qatar National Research Fund under its National Priorities Research Program (award number NPRP 09-857-5-123). Note that the contents of this chapter are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the Qatar National Research Fund, nor any of the other institutions that have supported the research underpinning this chapter.
- 3.
There are limited opportunities for naturalization in some GCC states, but generally speaking, these opportunities are not available to the vast majority of labor migrants who stream to the region.
- 4.
- 5.
There is often confusion with these terms. We use labor brokerages to refer to those agencies in sending countries that connect potential migrants with employment in the Gulf states, a service for which they typically charge. Manpower companies refer to those companies that receive labor in the Gulf states. These manpower agencies are oftentimes also referred to as labor supply companies. They employ labor, often in large quantities, and contract with companies to provide labor services.
- 6.
- 7.
In contrast to a human rights-based approach, for example.
- 8.
A pseudonym.
- 9.
In a nod to the work of Gibson-Graham, we see the neoliberalism and its many manifestations in the contemporary world not as the empirical and de facto reality, but rather as a myth of totality that disempowers other alternatives and marginalizes those alternatives’ histories. To make this argument specific to migration, we suggest that the repeated apprehension of circular migration schemes as somehow aligned with a de facto and empirical reality as a political and ideological move that serves the interests of some stakeholders at the expense of others.
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Babar, Z., Gardner, A. (2016). Circular Migration and the Gulf States. In: Solé, C., Parella, S., MartÃ, T., Nita, S. (eds) Impact of Circular Migration on Human, Political and Civil Rights. United Nations University Series on Regionalism, vol 12. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28896-3_3
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