New Public Migration Management. The Experience of Sello Migrante in Chile

The following essay delves into the significance of New Public Migration Management (NPMM), and the relevance of its contents considering a rapidly evolving reality. This reality unfolds through numerous daily challenges in societal life. As various themes emerge and rapid changes escalate, they evoke feelings of perplexity, confusion, and uncertainty. How to approach historical periods of disruption when the true nature and scale of these changes remain unclear? In this context, social sciences have become an indispensable tool for comprehending and organizing complex and interconnected processes, characterized by dynamic variables and constantly shifting phenomena.

The advanced phase of globalization has fostered unprecedented economic, political, social, and technological interdependence, giving rise to new dilemmas and challenges for modern States in their public management. One of them is the increasing convergence between global public affairs and the local public issues, which affect various public administrations across the international system with varying degrees of intensity. As a result, discussing the new global transformations has become increasingly crucial for both international organizations and social scientists and stakeholders involved in public management. The concept of NPMM serves as a framework to comprehend part of these systemic dilemmas by linking contemporary international migration flows to the capacity of states to adapt to new global social dynamics.

Globally, the relevance of the NPMM is grounded in five major areas of action: 1) de-monopolization of public migration management; 2) new state functions surrounding public migration management (PMM); 3) public change managers in more integrated and changing ecosystems; 4) municipalities and a municipal NPMM, and 5) the emergence of inter-institutional cooperation.

THE MONOPOLIZATION OF MIGRATION MANAGEMENT AND THE BUILDING OF MODERN STATES
The Peace of Westphalia—the treaty signed in 1648 that put an end to the Thirty Years’ War and other European conflicts of the time—stands as a cornerstone in international law and in the historiography of modern state emergence. One of the key provisions of the treaty stipulates: “If a state accepted the basic requirements of the treaty, it could be recognized as an international entity capable of maintaining its own culture, politics, religion, and internal policies, thereby enjoying protection from external intervention by the international system” (Kissinger, 2016, p. 38). In this sense, the framework established by the Peace of Westphalia enabled the consolidation of nationstates as institutions recognized by international law, facilitating the establishment of new rules for internal coexistence that would be respected by the emerging international order.

In terms of migratory dynamics, the initial stage of the modern era culminated with the onset of World War I, a historical period in which “travel was scarcely subject to the use of passports and national borders were easily crossed” (Solimano, 2013, p. 27). The First World War marked a pivotal moment for international migration, transitioning from a period of “openness and minimal restrictions” to an era characterized by more defined regulations. According to Solimano (2013, p. 27), “military and security concerns surrounding travel and migration introduced the era of passports, visas and work permits.”

NEW STATE FUNCTIONS IN MIGRATION MANAGEMENT
Our research “The New International Migration and Local Measures: An Analysis of the Chilean Experience” (Passi Livacic, 2023b) explores the factors challenging the construction of modern States in relation to the main functions concerning international migrations. The main thesis highlights three major variables that overlap with the previous migration phases; these are the trends consolidated as “new international migration:” 1) an unprecedented global scope that includes all continents; 2) the multidimensional nature of new international migrations, which surpass the hegemonic Eurocentric dominance of the previous phase, and 3) the emergence of a global discourse on the topic, between containment policies and adaptation strategies (forces of containment versus forces of adaptation). These variables collectively establish what is known as the formation of a new international migration, marked by an advanced context of globalization.

PUBLIC MANAGERS FOR CHANGE IN A TRANSFORMING WORLD
In response to contemporary challenges posed by new migratory patterns, strategies vary widely— from resistance (the prospect of de-globalizing certain aspects of the power structures consolidated in recent centuries), to the alignment of numerous countries with the new reality in the making. In the The Age of Walls, researcher Tim Marshall points:
Regarding the countries in line with the new global phenomenon, the creation of international and regional treaties aims to address migration flows. Notable examples at a global level include the establishment of the United Nations Global Agreement for Migration, the Global Agreement for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration, and the Global Agreement on Refugees (Naciones Unidas, s. f.). Similarly, regional agreements have been established, such as those found in South America, as detailed in Stefoni (2018).

This process involves the de-monopolization of migration institutions founded on the principles of modern states. It’s no longer solely about border functions or security policies; the ongoing evolution is intertwined with the development of a new public management paradigm aimed at generating international changes through adaptive state capacity.

In the traditional stage of modern PMM, according to Julieta Nicolao: “Nation-states sought from their very inception to monopolize the legitimate control over people’s mobility, consolidating exclusive rights to regulate and authorize mobility within their jurisprudence” (2020, p. 154). However, in the advanced phase of globalization, there emerges a significant fracture of systemic implications encapsulated by the concept of new international migratory movements. These movements are characterized by their: 1) systemic scope, 2) multidimensional character, and 3) global discourse between containment and adaptation forces.

Migration policies are undergoing a significant transformation, transitioning into a new stage of development and impacting across various spheres of power, from international to local agendas: “immigration was not considered a distinct public policy area requiring targeted interventions. Prior to World War II, migrant, immigrant, or minority populations, both domestic and foreign, were expected to assimilate into the dominant culture” (Gil-Araujo & Yufra, 2019).

Consequently, NPMM emerges as a strategy to transcend assimilation practices amidst ongoing migratory movements. New public managers must face new tasks and challenges, notably adapting to increasingly dynamic systems and addressing more frequently and prominently the rising prevalence of global public issues in domestic contexts.

Moisés Naím’s 2013 book The End of Power and Saskia Sassen’s 2017 article “The Massive Loss of Habitat” contribute insights to the discourse. For Naím, the advance of globalization triggers multiple simultaneous revolutions, including significant impact on international migrations, which he terms as an “ongoing mobility revolution.” In the context of our research, this concept broadens the migratory phenomenon as a groundbreaking international social reality, characterized by the influx of new foreigners in various countries and the destinations of contemporary international migrations. The Dutch author highlights the emergence of new migration flow, emphasizing that “extreme migration conditions operate at the municipal, national and global geopolitical levels” (Sassen, 2017, p. 13).

MUNICIPALITIES AND THE MUNICIPAL NPMM: SELLO MIGRANTE
We previously noted that “faced with the loss of the monopoly of migration control by the state structure, other state institutions step in to manage migration. In this sense, the territories—referred to as local governments—assume a relevant role at present” (Passi Livacic, 2023a, p. 10).

The Sello Migrante (Migrant Seal) program is one of the responses by the Chilean government to the enduring migratory challenges of the recent decades. This initiative establishes an innovative inter-institutional public migration management, centered around the certification of municipalities with the Sello Migrante by Chile’s National Migration Service. It is an unprecedented policy in terms of PMM, as it favors cooperation among diverse institutions within the Chilean political system, thereby promoting a multilevel or relational management, as discussed in the specialized literature (Tshitshi Ndouba, 2020).

The relevance of the program is multifactorial. Traditionally, public management initiatives have often lacked a crucial element—the feudalization or insularity of public administrations (Waissbluth, 2003). The foundations of the Sello Migrante program promote continuous engagement between the central State structure, through the National Migration Service, and the aligned municipalities. This shift towards the local level is significant, as it is where migrations take root. The program delegates new responsibilities to local governments, enabling them to respond to the new social dynamics.

Since its launch in 2015, the program has yielded several outcomes that enhance the public value of the national public administration. Notably, it has fostered the establishment of an emerging institutional framework on migration topics in 41 certified municipalities by December 2022. This framework facilitates the circulation of new knowledge underpinned by the multilevel and relational public management advocated by the National Migration Service, thereby catalyzing the development of municipal PMM, among others.

As previously highlighted (Passi Livacic, 2023a), municipalities serve as both implementers and catalysts of institutional change. The Migrant Offices are responsible for executing public policies across the five key dimensions stipulated by the Sello Migrante program: 1) establishing municipal migration institutions, 2) facilitating training for municipal officials, 3) formulating municipal public policies targeting at foreign residents in certified municipalities, 4) promoting migration regularity, and 5) fostering associativity to encourage integration and a sense of belonging. Certified municipalities thus evolve into transformative structures that drive innovation within the new public management through initiatives such as the internationalization of the municipalities in a context of advanced globalization; an incipient collaboration between Migrant Offices and various institutions of higher education, alongside a wide network of public-private partnerships focused on integration initiatives with a migrant-centric approach.

Defining the new public management paradigm enables the observation of areas of transformation, encompassing systematic shifts and those that impact on the domestic realm, particularly in the interaction between the central state structure and municipalities. It also facilitates an analysis of local challenges arising from new realities, including: 1) evaluating the cooperation that occurs between the different parts of the political system during the de-monopolization of migration management, 2) extending cooperation to other areas of the political system, such as ministries and national services, and 3) modernizing certification incentives to enhance benefits for the participating municipalities, and to promote broader and more impactful initiatives.

In essence, new public management allows us to contemplate on the evolving systemic fractures, their general characteristics, as well as the global, political and social implications they entail. It also enables an examination of the role of public administration in environments that challenge the traditional institutional foundations of modern states. Consequently, it is possible to evaluate the efficacy and adaptability of governmental action in the face of new environments, reflecting on the implementation processes and emerging challenges.

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