Outsourcing Migration Governance: Nordic States and the Financing of the International Organization for Migration

Abstract

When do states like Iceland finance international organizations (IOs) to carry out tasks that could, in principle, be handled domestically? This paper addresses this question through an analysis of Nordic states’ financing of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) between 1993 and 2024. While existing literature emphasizes donor states seeking influence over IO agendas or how donors balance strategic vs norm-driven considerations in multilateral aid giving, less attention has been paid to the use of IOs as substitutes for, or complements to, national administrative capacity. To investigate this dimension, the paper draws on an original dataset constructed from systematically coded IOM financial reports, including material obtained through archival requests. The analysis shows that Nordic states overwhelmingly rely on project-based funding with a significant share directed toward operational tasks such as assisted return that are important to national governments. Data shows that the Nordic countries differ significantly, both in terms of the number of projects and geographical distribution of funding. Iceland is distinct as it almost exclusively finances domestic projects compared to the more mixed portfolios of the other Nordics. This outsourcing of administrative capacity does not appear to be purely temporary, as demonstrated by a case study of Iceland, which delegates core migration administration to IOM. These patterns reveal that even high-capacity and norm-driven donors use IOM for domestic projects. The study contributes to scholarship on IO financing by demonstrating how international organizations can serve as instruments of domestic governance and showing how this can play out in high-capacity states.