Contested Mobility Norms in Africa

The report sheds light on perceptions of mobility, the worldview that informs it, state actions, and the discrepancies between official policies and actual practices. It also explores the gap between policy and public opinion, as well as the risks and limitations of enforcing policies rooted in different socio-historical contexts.

This study covers eight different norm statements on mobility whereby norms are understood as collaboration and contestations between policy norms and social norms. These norm statements were discussed with interview partners including academics, policy advisors, consultants, civil servants, civil society advocates, a legislator and representatives from the African Union. 

It aims to shed light on the complexity of policy-making in this field by analysing what mobility norms are prevalent in the African context.

Authors

Franzisca Zanker is a Senior Researcher at the Arnold Bergstraesser Institute (ABI) in Freiburg, Germany. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in law, a Master’s degree in International Relations and Diplomacy and a PhD in Political Science from the University of Tübingen. She has more than 15 years of research experience in the migration space and is a member of several groups and associations, such as the Collaborative Research Group African Migration, Mobility and Displacement, which she co-founded. Her main areas of research are Migration governance, refugee protection, migrant and refugee agency, peace processes, and civil society with a regional focus on Africa.

Amanda Bisong is a Policy officer in the AU – EU relations and migration and mobility workstreams of ECDPM, Maastricht, The Netherlands. She has a background in Law and Master degrees in International Law and Economics and International Trade Policy and Trade Law. Her focus research areas are on migration agreements, labour migration, exploring the linkages between trade and migration in Africa, migration governance and the interplay between regional and national commitments.