Readmission Agreements are a mechanism for countering illegal immigration. Such agreements involve reciprocal undertakings to return illegal residents (or irregular migrants) to their country of origin or transit. This special edition of MEI Viewpoints brings together extensive research on agreements between European and North African states. The following chapters explore what can be argued as the unbalanced costs and benefits for all parties. While the format of this collection is different from past editions of MEI Viewpoints and the essays explore the subject matter in greater depth, Unbalanced Reciprocities nonetheless builds on the three recently published volumes on Migration and the Arab World. And it represents MEI’s continuing commitment to bring fresh issues and voices to to the attention of our readers.


The Middle East Institute (MEI) is an independent, non-partisan, non-for-profit, educational organization. It does not engage in advocacy and its scholars’ opinions are their own. MEI welcomes financial donations, but retains sole editorial control over its work and its publications reflect only the authors’ views. For a listing of MEI donors, please click here.