People on the move – The new global (dis)order

As Europe struggles to respond to its biggest influx of migrants since World War II, it is evident that the world now finds itself confronted with a completely new paradigm of international migration. Global migration is here to stay: connectivity and demography, insecurity and instability are shaping a new and rapidly evolving world (dis)order and these dynamics will have a major impact on Europe. This Chaillot Paper analyses the factors which have generated the current migration crisis, and emphasises that a balanced policy debate on the challenges and opportunities this phenomenon is creating, starting with its wider foreign policy implications, is still lacking. It examines how the devolution of global power means that a new strategy on migration and refugees will need to focus mainly on the world beyond the EU’s borders, providing people with opportunities as close to home as possible. For the EU, this creates potential new allies in the management of migration, and new means to use migration to empower allies.