The Configuration of Circular Migration Policies in South America. Spain's Labour Agreements with Colombia and Ecuador

Abstract

This work investigates how migratory processes and migrants have been conceived in the implementation of the Temporary and Circular Labour Migration (TCLM) model. Our focus is on Spain's Agreements with Colombia and Ecuador on the Regulation of Labour Migration Flows (2001-2008). The work is part of a broader discussion about the conceptual link between migration and development from the migration governance´s perspective. Building on this discussion, we address the notions of cooperation, regularity, (co)development, and circularity as central concepts, which lay the foundations for these programs› formulation and development. For this purpose, we choose a qualitative approach; in particular, we gather and analyze several institutional documents. The findings show that TCLM programs are part of mechanisms of control and migration management, which are embedded within global, regional, and national political dynamics. Framed within the idea of orderly migration, tclm schemes operate as North-South asymmetrical devices, by offering solutions of mutual benefit for the development of the societies of both origin and destination as well as for migrants.