Logistical Borderscapes: Politics and Mediation of Mobile Labor in Germany After the ‘Summer of Migration’

This article investigates the governmental measures and policies adopted by Germany in the wake of the “long summer of migration” of 2015 to put refugees to work. Starting with a discussion of the autonomy of migration approach against the background of the multiple transformations and crises of the European border regime, the authors focus on shifting paradigms in the management of labor mobility. A short review of the emerging field of “critical logistics studies” allows them to single out a process of “logistification” of migration regimes, according to a “delivery” rationality instantiated by the policy goal of a “just-in-time and to-the-point” migration. This hypothesis is tested with respect to Germany on the basis of research conducted by the authors in Berlin, particularly focusing on the roles played by a complex system and infrastructure of intermediation to manage the "integration" of refugees into the labor market.