The Double Duality of Migrant Smugglers: An Analytical Framework

Migrant smugglers play central roles in shaping migration. In this chapter, I develop a new framework for understanding migrant smuggling and counter-smuggling measures. Its core is what I call the double duality of migrant smugglers. For states and migrants alike, smugglers embody a typological duality: on the one hand, they are a threat, or a problem, but on the other hand, they are a resource, or a solution. Expressed in these abstract terms, the dualities that migrants and states experience are parallel. Hence the notion of a double duality*.* This Janus-faced feature is essential to the roles that smugglers have come to play.