Institutions in Crisis and Collective Action in Global Migration Contexts. The Case of Haitians Arrival in Tijuana, B.C., 2016-2017

Abstract

How do new forms of global migration generate equally unusual forms of collective action? In mid-2016, hundreds of people of Haitian origin began arriving in Tijuana, B.C., (Mexico). The particularities of their immigration status and the amount of new arrivals placed the civil and governmental institutions in a crisis in the absence of specific policies on attending to them. Starting from a theoretical-conceptual discussion of collective action, and from a qualitative methodological perspective, the objective of the article is to analyze the inter-institutional relations and the strategic management of resources of the different forms of association that arise in such a situation. The study shows how, in a context of institutional crisis, emerging forms of collective action are constructed through networks responding to short and medium-term needs of the affected population, how civic organization processes based on solidarity are accelerated, and how citizen participation is encouraged based on identity principles typical of places with a long migratory experience.