Their paper, entitled Migration? It's the Economy Stupid! The Missing Link in the Migration Law Debate, examines the economic dimension of migration law, an often overlooked aspect in in the public and legal debate. In their analysis, Grütters and Geertsema stress that the usual trade-off in migration law, between the human right to migrate and the sovereignty of states, is too limited. They describe the concept of a ‘trilemma’, in which people's rights, states' rights and economic interests must be balanced.
Grütters and Geertsema point out that political discussions on migration are often disconnected from academic debates. They argue that politicians sometimes distort migration aspects to mask the migration trilemma and argue for more involvement of academics in the migration debate. As an example, they use the situation in Western Sahara, where the complex political context illustrates the tensions between sovereignty, human rights and economic interests.
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