When the stars aligned: ideational strategic alliances and the critical juncture of Argentina’s 2004 Migration Law

Susanne Melde and Luisa Feline Freier

Third World Quarterly, 2022, vol. 43, issue 7, 1531-1550

Abstract: Argentina’s 2004 Migration Law spearheaded rights-based immigration policy reforms across Latin America. To deconstruct the policy process that enabled the passing of this ‘revolutionary’ law, we apply a mixed qualitative approach, based on secondary literature, and the analysis of 80 semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders. We argue that both structural and contingent regime dynamics shaped a window of opportunity for the reform to take place. We further show how key actors amongst civil society organisations, the executive and the legislative branches formed multi-sectoral coalitions and strategic alliances to turn this policy window into a critical juncture of lasting policy change. Ultimately, legislative reform was successful because it was framed as a human right, and not as an immigration issue. The paper contributes to scholarship on immigration policy determinants, ideational strategic alliances, policy windows and critical junctures.

Date: 2022
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DOI: 10.1080/01436597.2022.2081145

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