Navigating the Bermuda Triangle: Exploring the Relationship between Migration Scholarship and Migration Governance

In this introduction to the special issue on migration research and governance, we identify three key issues at the heart of current migration discourses: a range of normative and ethical assumptions, the transnational dynamics of migration, and the challenges of domestic policymaking. We argue that these intertwined dimensions create a complex ‘Bermuda Triangle’ where good intentions often falter and migrants themselves bear the greatest risks. Migration represents both a political and academic minefield with implications for policy outcomes. Through the nine contributions in this issue, we demonstrate how interdisciplinary perspectives and diverse stakeholder engagement offer pathways out of this impasse. Drawing on insights from the nups-network, we organize these contributions around three themes: addressing global challenges such as climate change and technology, examining the machinery of migration governance systems in different regional contexts and at different scales, and highlighting promising practises for research-policy dialogue and collaboration.