Security and Migration in Asia explores how various forms of unregulated and illegal forms of human movement within Asia and beyond the region have come to be treated as “security“ issues, and whether and how a “securitization“ framework enables a more effective response to them. The process and theory of “securitization“ and “desecuritization“ have been developed within the international relations literature by the so-call Copenhagen school scholars, including Barry Buzan and Ole Waever among others.

The topics explored in this well- presented and engaging book cover geographic areas of China, Northeast Asia, Central Asia, the Russian Far East, Southeast Asia, and the Hong Kong SAR, and includes research on:

• human trafficking and people smuggling


• financing illegal migration and links to transnational organized crime


• regulated and unregulated labour migration


• the “securitization“ of illegal migration in sending, transit and receiving countries.

This book provides compelling insights into contemporary forms of illegal migration, under conditions of globalization, and makes a contribution to the literature in international relations and migration studies.