Carnegie Endowment Launches Newest Washington Think Tank: Migration Policy Institute

Jessica Mathews, president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, today announced the formation of the Migration Policy Institute, the only independent policy institution in North America dedicated to the study of migration and refugee trends and policies worldwide, and their consequences. This new, Washington-based think tank is an outgrowth of the Carnegie Endowment's internationally renowned migration policy program. Former Carnegie senior associates Kathleen Newland and Demetrios Papademetriou will serve as executive directors of the new institution.

The Migration Policy Institute will provide independent, non-partisan analysis and policy development on migration and refugee issues at local, regional, national, and international levels. Its mission is to promote a better understanding of migration trends and their effects on the countries and communities that send or receive migrants, and to develop policy options for effective and humane migration management.

At the outset, its work will focus on four themes: migration management, refugee protection and international humanitarian response, the North American migration agenda, and immigrant settlement and integration.

The new institute continues a longstanding tradition at the Endowment of "incubating" new organizations until they developed the capacities to become important, freestanding institutions. Its distinguished predecessors include the Arms Control Association, the Institute for International Economics, and the German Marshall Fund.

"Demetrios, Kathleen, and their staff have provided intellectual guidance to some of the most important migration policy debates in the 1990s," said Mathews. "The scope of these issues and their work has now gone beyond the Carnegie mission. I am confident that the quality and reputation of their work will enable them to sustain an institution for many years to come."

"Migration issues have become central to a wide range of domestic and international policy debates. Their importance will only increase, as states seek to balance among economic growth, humanitarian response, demographic change, national security, and social cohesion," said Newland. "The Migration Policy Institute is poised to meet the demand for pragmatic responses to the challenges posed by large-scale migration."

"The Migration Policy Institute will be different from other sources of policy-oriented migration analysis. It is neither an advocacy group nor an academic institution. It does not have a limited constituency whose needs would color analysis. Instead, MPI will focus on politically and technically feasible approaches to migration and refugee issues," added Papademetriou.

Highlights of recent work from the Carnegie Endowment's international migration program, lead by Newland and Papademetriou, include:

• Mexico-US Migration: A Shared Responsibility, a report from a distinguished panel of U.S. and Mexican experts called on Presidents Bush and Fox to discuss a new approach to the challenges of U.S.-Mexico migration. Their recommendations helped create the basis for discussions between the two governments. (February 2001)
• Citizenship Today: Global Perspectives and Practices looks at the forms, policies, and practices of citizenship which are changing rapidly around the globe. Called a "boldly exploratory study," the volume brings together leading experts in their field to define core issues at stake in citizenship debates. (April 2001)
• The World in a Zip Code: Greater Washington, D.C. as a New Region of Immigration looks at the greater Washington region as a top immigrant destination in the country. In addition to other high-profile attention, the study garnered front-page coverage in the Washington Post. (May 2001)

Publications and meeting reports prepared by staff of the international migration policy program will continue to be available on the Carnegie web site at www.ceip.org.

Contact information for the new think tank is:

Migration Policy Institute
1400 16th Street, NW
Suite 300
Washington, DC
20036
Phone: 202-266-1940
Fax: 202-266-1900
[email protected]

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