Networks of Transregional Power: Migration, Intermediaries, and Governance in the Syrian–Lebanese Context

This article examines the governance of unregulated migration in the Eastern Mediterranean, focusing on northern Lebanon as a key site where mobility is organized, negotiated, and monetized. It challenges simplified dichotomies such as migrants versus traffickers by analyzing decentralized yet interconnected networks of power operating across translocal, transnational, and transregional scales. Drawing on fieldwork conducted in northern Lebanon and remote research in Syria and Europe, the study shows how intermediaries—including local actors, state representatives, and foreign stakeholders—manage resources, facilitate mobility, and shape governance arrangements. The findings highlight the historical continuity of transregional networks and demonstrate how state and non-state actors, notably the Lebanese Armed Forces, navigate and blur formal and informal dimensions of authority. The article also examines the role of foreign security measures and development cooperation, arguing that external interventions often reinforce existing power structures rather than offering alternatives to containment. Overall, the study contributes to a nuanced understanding of migration governance by foregrounding the complex interplay of actors shaping mobility in peripheral borderlands.