Abstract
International migration has become highly politicised by nation-states, and it has consolidated as a 'global issue' in policy agendas. This chapter traces the politics of international migration, and posits that, over the last decades, its governance has further fragmented despite overriding advances at the global level. While this fragmentation is not new, it is further exacerbated as various governance frameworks treat certain forms of migration as 'issue-areas' potentially isolating them from broader structural transformation processes. Reviewing key ideas around 'migration and development', 'temporary labour migration', the evolution of the global governance architecture and providing early reflections on the COVID-19 pandemic, the chapter concludes that fragmentation per se might not be a problem, but side-lining rights-based approaches poses serious risks to fulfil protection agendas.