Weapons of Mass Migration: Forced Displacement as an Instrument of Coercion; Strategic Insights, v. 9, issue 1 (Spring-Summer 2010)

Abstract

This article appeared in Strategic Insights, v.9, issue 1 (Spring-Summer 2010) ; pp. 116-159. ; This article is drawn from Kelly M. Greenhill, Weapons of Mass Migration: Forced Displacement, Coercion and Foreign Policy (Ithaca, NY: Cornell Studies in Security Affairs, Cornell University Press, 2010) with our great appreciation to the author and publisher. For further details or to purchase a copy, please visit http://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/?GCOI=80140100627270 ; The article is organized as follows: I begin by outlining the logic behind the coercive use of purposefully created migration and refugee crises and discuss its relative, if under-recognized, prevalence. In the second section, I briefly describe the kind of actors who resort to the use of this unconventional weapon as well as highlight the diverse array of objectives sought by those who employ it. I also show that this kind of coercion has proven relatively successful, at least as compared to more traditional methods of persuasion, particularly against (generally more powerful) liberal democratic targets. In the third section, I propose an explanation for why democracies appear to have been most frequently (and most successfully) targeted. I also advance my broader theory about the nature of migration-driven coercion, including how, why, and under what conditions it can prove efficacious. I conclude with a brief discussion of broader implications and further applications of the theory. ; Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited.