Self-legitimation through knowledge production partnerships: International Organization for Migration in Central Asia

The absence of a solid international migration regime and related competition between international organisations (IOs) in the field of global migration governance bring challenges to their authority and legitimacy to the fore. This paper sets to explore how the International Organization for Migration (IOM) has reacted to such challenges. For this, the paper applies the concept of self-legitimation of IOs. Drawing on insights from International Relations and International Political Economy as well as on sociology of translation', the paper argues that the core self-legitimation strategy and practices of IOM rely on knowledge production partnerships with other IOs and relevant local stakeholders. To develop this argument, the paper uses the notions of challenged and challenging institutions, identifies sources of related challenges and the audiences that are important for self-legitimation efforts of IOs. It shows how IOM has become both a challenging and a challenged institution and how its knowledge production partnerships in the post-Soviet Central Asia increase its reputational authority in relations with its local and global audiences. This analysis builds on fieldwork conducted in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan in 2011-2015.