How do social practices shape policy? Analysing the field of ‘migration as adaptation’ with Bourdieu's ‘Theory of Practice’

Abstract

In recent decades, there has been a shift in the climate‐migration discourse: from one preoccupied with ‘climate refugees’ to one of ‘migration as adaptation’. Academics and policy‐makers alike see migration as a way to generate income, diversify livelihoods, and spread risk in the face of climate change. Past literature has found that policy prescriptions at this nexus may play into existing politics and framings, especially in the struggle for funding or in the age of the ever‐present neoliberal agenda. This paper makes the case that perhaps the machinations behind policy recommendations need not appear to be sinister. While higher‐level structural considerations should be taken into account and doubtless undergird the trajectory of policy‐making, organisations often follow existing pathways neither because of empirical evidence nor with malicious intent, but rather because it is part and parcel of existing practices of positioning themselves within the system and playing the rules of the game. In fact, every‐day and seemingly mundane practices can accumulate and ‘hang together’ to shape and determine policy outcomes. This happens in a variety of ways in the field of ‘migration as adaptation’, but in its most explicit form can be unveiled in the organisational practices of writing publications and participating in conferences and working groups, for example. By using a practice‐oriented approach, with Bourdieu's ‘Theory of Practice’ as a guide, this paper provides an understanding of the logic and practices of the migration‐as‐adaptation policy sphere and the limited policy prescriptions related to it as well as suggests sites at which to target interventions for more radical policy imaginings.

The behavioral turn in flood risk management, its assumptions and potential implications

“…Borrowing from Ober and Sakdapolrak (, p. 3) the practice of adaptation can be captured by the following formula: “practice of adaptation = [(habitus) (capital)] + field”…”

Adaptive migration: pluralising the debate on climate change and migration

“…For their part, Ober and Sakdapolrak () take a very different approach to the migration‐as‐adaptation thesis, focusing on international institutions and using Bourdieu's theory of social practices. Their premise is that the migration‐as‐adaptation thesis was not deliberately forged on the basis of empirical evidence or in deliberate support of neoliberalism or any other form of power.…”

“…More specifically, they observe that the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) developed the migration‐as‐adaptation thesis in its ongoing effort to acquire and maintain ‘social capital’, and thus legitimacy both within the wider UN context and within the international climate change community. Through a series of interviews with key actors in the climate change and migration epistemic community, Ober and Sakdapolrak () show how much of this was achieved through IOM's publication strategy and its strategic positioning within what they call emerging ‘nodal points’ in the policy development context. But they also show clearly that the migration‐as‐adaptation thesis was not a deliberate strategy per se , but rather the unintended outcome of such practices, including routine efforts to consolidate internal institutional expertise and narrative.…”

“…), migration theory (Gemenne and Blocher ; Stojanov et al . ), practice theory (Ober and Sakdapolrak ), and political ecology (Sulieman and Ahmed ). In the final section of this introduction, we suggest one further, albeit vastly under‐researched, framework that might be used to further pluralise the discussion around adaptive migration: legal geography.…”

Migration as climate adaptation? Exploring discourses amongst development actors in the Pacific Island region

“…This debate is particularly centred around the Small Island Developing States (SIDS), including those in the Pacific. Described as among the most vulnerable regions on the planet (Nurse et al 2014), the Pacific Island Countries (PICs) are regularly portrayed, in news media and academic texts alike, as future locations of large-scale outmigration as seas rise and coastal settlements become uninhabitable. In this context, Smith and McNamara (2015) speak of a 'geopolitical characterisation' of Pacific nation states as inherently vulnerable.…”