Ennis Crystal A, Walton-Roberts Margaret
Leiden University, The Netherlands.
Wilfrid Laurier University, Canada.
Glob Soc Policy. 2018 Aug;18(2):169-188. doi: 10.1177/1468018117737990. Epub 2017 Nov 7.
This article examines global social policy formation in the area of skilled migration, with a focus on the Gulf Arab region. Across the globe, migration governance presents challenges to multiple levels of authority; its complexity crosses many scales and involves a multitude of actors with diverse interests. Despite this jurisdictional complexity, migration remains one of the most staunchly defended realms of sovereign policy control. Building on global social policy literature, this article examines how 'domestic' labour migration policies reflect the entanglement of multiple states' and agencies' interests. Such entanglements result in what we characterize as a 'multiplex system', where skilled-migration policies are formed within, and shaped by, globalized policy spaces. To illustrate, we examine policies that shape the nursing labour market in Oman during a period when the state aims to transition from dependence on an expatriate to an increasingly nationalized labour force. Engaging a case-study methodology including a survey of migrant healthcare workers, semi-structured interviews and data analysis, we find that nursing labour markets in Oman represent an example of global policy formation due to the interaction of domestic and expatriate labour policies and provisioning systems. The transnational structuring of policy making that emerges reflects a contingent process marked by conflicting outcomes. We contend that Oman's nursing labour market is an example of new spaces where global social policies emerge from the tension of competing national state and market interests.
本文探讨了技术移民领域的全球社会政策形成，重点关注海湾阿拉伯地区。在全球范围内，移民治理给多个层面的权威带来了挑战；其复杂性跨越多个尺度，涉及众多利益各异的行为体。尽管存在这种管辖权的复杂性，但移民仍然是主权政策控制中最坚决捍卫的领域之一。基于全球社会政策文献，本文研究了“国内”劳动力移民政策如何反映多个国家和机构利益的交织。这种交织导致了我们所称的“多重系统”，在这个系统中，技术移民政策在全球化的政策空间内形成并受到其塑造。为了说明这一点，我们考察了阿曼在国家旨在从依赖外籍劳动力向日益实现劳动力国有化转型期间塑造护理劳动力市场的政策。通过采用案例研究方法，包括对移民医护人员的调查、半结构化访谈和数据分析，我们发现，由于国内和外籍劳动力政策及供应系统的相互作用，阿曼的护理劳动力市场是全球政策形成的一个例子。由此出现的政策制定的跨国结构反映了一个以冲突结果为特征的偶然过程。我们认为，阿曼的护理劳动力市场是新空间的一个例子，在这些新空间中，全球社会政策因国家和市场利益相互竞争的紧张关系而产生。
