publications

books and special issues

2026 (forthcoming). with Lieneke Slingenberg. Who rules over migrants? Autocratic tools in migration policies. The Hague Journal of Rule of Law. Introduction to Special Issue.
2024. with Hélène Thiollet. Migration Politics across the World. London, UK: Routledge.
2023. The Politics of Immigration Beyond Liberal States: Morocco and Tunisia in Comparative Perspective. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Read the introduction here!
- Reviewed in: Perspectives on Politics, Political Studies Quarterly, International Migration Review, International Migration, Oxford Law Blog, Afrique(s) en Mouvement, Middle East Review, Journal of North African Studies
2023. with Lorena Gazzotti and Melissa Mouthaan. Embracing complexity in ‘Southern’ migration governance. Territory, Politics, Governance 11(4): 625-637. Introduction to Special Issue Migration Governance Beyond ‘Fortress Europe’.
2022. with Hélène Thiollet. Theorising migration politics: do political regimes matter? Third World Quarterly 43(7): 1515-1530. Introduction to Special Issue Migration Politics across the World.
2016. with Mohamed Berriane and Hein de Haas. Revisiting Moroccan Migrations. London, UK: Routledge.
2015. with Mohamed Berriane and Hein de Haas. Revisiting Moroccan migrations, Journal of North African Studies 20(4): 503-521. Introduction to special issue.

peer-reviewed articles & book chapters

2025. with Lea Müller-Funk. Maghreb States in the International Refugee Regime: Between Strategic Alignment, Alternative Pathways, and Confrontations. In: Fakhoury, Tamirace and Dawn Chatty (eds.) Refugee Governance in the Arab World, London, UK: Bloomsbury Publishing.
2024. with Natalie Welfens. Why Has Migration Research So Little Impact? Examining Knowledge Practices in Migration Policy Making and Migration Studies, International Migration Review 58(4), 1669-1700.
2024. The il/liberal paradox: Conceptualizing immigration policy trade-offs across the democracy/autocracy divide, Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 50(3), 680–701.
2024. with Sylvia I Bergh, Issam Cherrat, Francesco Colin and Ben Wagner. Morocco’s Governance of Cities and Borders. In: Rita Matulionyte and Monika Zalnieriute (eds.) The Cambridge Handbook of Facial Recognition in the Modern State, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Pp. 267-284.
2024. with Lea Müller-Funk. Forced migration governance in Tunisia: Balancing risks and assets for state-making during independence and democratization. Mediterranean Politics 29(5): 617-641.
2023. with Nora Stel and Kelsey Norman. Strategic non-regulation as migration governance. Migration Politics 2(4).
2023. with Lea Müller-Funk. (Trans)formations de l’État et gouvernance des migrations forcées en Tunisie, Afrique(s) en mouvement 6(2): 31-41.
2023. Ad-hocratic immigration governance: how states secure their power over immigration through intentional ambiguity. Territory, Politics and Governance. 11(4): 677-694.
2022. Tunisia’s migration politics throughout the 2011 revolution: revisiting the democratisation–migrant rights nexus. Third World Quarterly 43(7): 1551-1569.
2021. Beyond the dichotomy of liberal and illiberal migration governance. In: Carmel, Emma; Lenner, Katharina and Regine Paul (eds.) Handbook on the Politics and Governance of Migration. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar. Pp.110-122.
2021. Crafting a ‘liberal monarchy’: Regime consolidation and immigration policy reform in Morocco. Journal of North African Studies 26(5): 850-874.
2020. with Mathias Czaika and Hein de Haas. Political party ideology and immigration policy reform: An empirical enquiry, Political Research Exchange 2(1): 1-27.
2020. Immigration. In: Caliendo, Stephen M. and Charlton D. McIlwain (eds) The Routledge Companion to Race and Ethnicity. 2^nd edition. London, UK: Routledge. Pp 60-67.
2019. with Hein de Haas, Mathias Czaika, Marie-Laurence Flahaux, Edo Mahendra,Simona Vezzoli and Maria Villares-Varela. International Migration: Trends, determinants and policy effects, Population and Development Review. 45(4): 885-922.
2018. Rethinking Immigration Policy Theory Beyond ‘Western Liberal Democracies’ Comparative Migration Studies 6:4.
2018. with Hein de Haas and Simona Vezzoli. Growing restrictiveness or changing selection? The nature and evolution of migration policies, International Migration Review 52(2): 324-367.
2015. with Hein de Haas and Simona Vezzoli. Conceptualizing and measuring migration policy change, Comparative Migration Studies 3(15).
2015. with Raluca Bejan. Salient issues on international migration: Buoni e cattivi segnali. Reporting from the 2014 International Metropolis Conference, Transnational Social Review 5(1): 86-91.
2014. The Formation of Morocco’s policy towards irregular migration (2000–2007): Political rationale and policy processes, International Migration 52(5): 15-28.

working papers

2025. with Riccardo Biggi, Niels Ike and Merel van Assem. Between knowledge and assumptions: the migrant in the eyes of the policymaker. IMI Working Paper No. 185/PACES Working Paper No.7. Amsterdam, NL.
2021. with Mohamed Berriane and Hein de Haas. Social transformations and migrations in Morocco. International Migration Institute Working Paper 171. Amsterdam, NL: University of Amsterdam.
2020. with Hein de Haas, Sonja Fransen, Kerilyn Schewel and Simona Vezzoli. Social transformation. International Migration Institute Working Paper 166. Amsterdam, NL: University of Amsterdam.
2014. Fifty years of Maghreb emigration – How states shaped Algerian, Moroccan and Tunisian emigration, International Migration Institute Working Paper 95. Oxford, UK: University of Oxford.

features, policy reports, book reviews & blogposts

2025. Immigration Policy, a “Biomarker” for Political Regime Transformation? APSA Democracy & Autocracy Newsletter 23(1): 8-12
2023. Reinventing a Broken Wheel: What the EU-Tunisia Deal Reveals over Europe’s Migration Cooperation. Verfassungsblog.
2023. Authoritarianism and immigration policy: Tunisia shows it’s not that straightforward. The Loop – ECPR’s Political Science Blog.
2022. Commentary: Tunisia’s migration policy: the ambiguous consequences of democratization. Tunis, Tunisia: Heinrich Böll Foundation. Also available in French.
2021. Book Review: Dini and Guisa (2020) Externalising Migration Governance Through Civil Society, International Migration 59(2): 269-271.
2020. Policy Brief: Key knowledge questions on migration drivers, CrossMigration Project. IMISCOE: Migration Research Hub.
2020. ‘Maghreb – Migration Patterns and Policies between the Sahara and the Mediterranean, German Federal Agency for Civic Education (bpb) and Institute for Migration Research and Intercultural Studies (IMIS). Available in German and English.
2020. Migration Trends Across the Mediterranean, Africa and The Global Illicit Economy Podcast, 17 December.
2020. Autocrats, democrats and immigration policy, The Borders of Equality Podcast, 8 June
2019. Book Review: Crossroads: Comparative Immigration Regimes in a World of Demographic Change, International Migration Review.
2018. with Hein de Haas. There’s No Hard Right–Soft Left Divide on Migration Policy, News Deeply, 25 July.
2016. Mehr als nur Herkunftsländer – Migrationsmuster in Algerien, Marokko und Tunesien. Studie des Referats Naher und Mittlerer Osten/Nordafrika. Berlin, DE: Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES). Available in German and French.
2016. There is no ‘silver bullet’ migration policy, Hein de Haas Blog, 16 December.
2016. Migrationspolitik: Keine eierlegende Wollmilchsau. Der Standard, 25 August.
2015. Revolution and political transition in Tunisia: A migration game changer?, Migration Information Source Country Profile. Washington, DC: Migration Policy Institute.
2015. Almost home? Morocco’s incomplete migration reforms, World Politics Review, 5 May 2015.
2014. with Mathias Czaika, Sally Khallash and Maria Villares-Varela. Increasing Economic and Trade Relations with Emerging Economies – Consequences for Immigration Systems. A Comparative Analysis of Migration Policy Options towards BRIC-Plus Countries, 178p.

get in touch!

k.natter@fsw.leidenuniv.nl

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