Search results
Found 2315 matches for
The International Migration Institute gathers researchers who are committed to develop new thinking about migration and mobility across the world.
State Expansion, Changing Aspirations and Migration: The Case of Cisternino, Southern Italy
This paper examines the social transformation processes that led to a mobility transition in Cisternino, a small agricultural town in Southern Italy. This transition entailed a shift from seasonal regional mobility in the 1940s to migration towards long-distance national and international destinations from the 1950s and to regional commuting and return migration from the 1970s. Building on mobility transition theories and the social transformation framework, the analysis examines the relation between the profound social change that affected this small agricultural town in the post-World War II period and shifts in migration. A combination of three broad processes explains the changing migration patterns: the expansion and consolidation of the state, the reshaping of the local economy and cultural transitions. By analysing the interplay and sequencing of these processes, we observe that, firstly, long-distance migration initially increased largely in reaction to deep cultural and political-economic shifts that altered local livelihoods; however, long-distance migration subsequently decreased as it was substituted by commuting in association with local economic growth and the expansion of state-driven sectors and safety net provisions that bore fruit in the 1960s. The article reveals the powerful and varied ways in which, in crucial moments of transition, the state affects local livelihoods and the population’s decision to either adapt locally or migrate.
Paradoxes of Migration and Development
This paper argues why and how migration should be conceptualised as an intrinsic part of broader processes of development and social change instead of as the antithesis of development, as dominant discourses hold. When societies go through the various economic, cultural, technological, political and demographic transitions associated with ‘development’, this leads to increasing levels of internal and international out-migration. Low-income societies generally have lower emigration levels because poverty tends to constrain people’s movements. Development leads to more instead of less migration because it increases people’s capabilities and aspirations to move. The paradox of development-driven emigration hikes shows the inability of conventional push–pull and neoclassical models to explain migration as well as the need for a new vision of migration as part of broader development. Migration is shaped by development in both origin and destination societies and also contributes to further change in its own right. However, the embeddedness of migration in broader processes of social transformation and development also means that its potential to affect structural change is fundamentally limited. This shows the logical fallacy of narratives that cast development as a ‘solution’ for perceived migration problems or that cast migration and remittances as panaceas with which to solve fundamental development problems.
State Policies and Pakistani Migrant Organisations in Toronto and New York City
This paper examines how different ‘contexts of reception’ in Toronto and NYC shape the size, programmatic domain (social, cultural, economic, political), and geographic scope of action (local vs. transnational) of non-profit organisations serving the Pakistani immigrant community. Existing literature tends to employ a one-sided focus on the role of state-policies in determining the prevalence of immigrant organisations. This literature is also divided into two epistemic camps, one focusing on organisations promoting settlement/incorporation and others on transnational organisations. This study addresses these limitations by examining how state-policies, socioeconomic incorporation, community characteristics and societal attitudes combine to shape the composition of an immigrant group’s collective organisational space – comprised of incorporation and transnationally-oriented organisations. Data come from a new original database of the universe of Pakistani non-profit organisations based in Toronto and New York and from qualitative data gathered in both cities. Contrary to our expectations and previous research, we find that state-sponsored multiculturalism is not associated with a larger or more transnational Pakistani organisational space in Toronto. Rather, the size, programmatic domain and geographic scope of Pakistani organisational spaces are determined by the intersection of state-policies and the immigrant community’s socioeconomic incorporation ¬– where the more affluent New Yorker Pakistani community is associated with a larger and more transnational organisational space. Findings also reveal tensions between locally- and transnationally-oriented organisations in both cities, reflecting growing fragmentation between affluent cosmopolitan, immigrant elites and the impoverished segments of the Toronto and NYC Pakistani communities. If you would like to read a copy of this working paper please email the author: ali.chaudhary@qeh.ox.ac.uk
The Volume and Geography of Forced Migration
This paper studies the long-term evolution of global refugee migration, with a particular emphasis on the post-World War II period. We use the UNHCR Population Statistics Database to explore the intensity as well as the geographical spread and distance of refugee migrations at a global, regional, and country level between 1951 and 2018. The analyses refute the idea that there has been a substantial and linear increase in the intensity of global refugee migration. Moreover, problems with coverage and quality of earlier data give reason to think that levels of past refugee migration were underestimated. Apparent increases in the global number of displaced are mainly driven by the recent inclusion of other populations (such as the internally displaced and people in “refugee-like” situations) and countries that were previously excluded from statistics. Yet the analyses reveal several geographical shifts in refugee migration over the past decades. Refugees tend to come from a shrinking number of origin countries and go to an increasing number of destination countries. This trend reflects an overall long-term global decline in the levels of violent conflict and a concentration of recurrent conflict cycles in a few particular states. The average distance between origin and residence countries has increased over time, although the vast majority of refugees continue to stay near origin countries. Refugee populations continue to be concentrated in countries with low to medium GDP levels, and there has not been a major increase in South-North refugee migration.
Immigrants, Markets, Brokers, and States: The Politics of Illiberal Migration Governance in the Arab Gulf
Despite seemingly open immigration policies and rights-based reforms, the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries recently engaged in international and domestic policies to better control immigration. This article unpacks the realpolitik of mass immigration conducted by the Gulf states by showing how they use retaliatory and coercive migration diplomacies as well as migrant rightswashing on the international scene to shape immigration flows. At the domestic level, Gulf governments’ reforms seek to police labour market segmentation and institutionalise a regime of “differential exclusion” that officialises intersectional discriminations across nationalities and class. Drawing upon sources in English and Arabic, as well as interviews with public officials, businessmen, and migrants in the region over a decade (2006-2017), this article describes how states and nonstate actors, including businessmen, migrant networks, and brokers, operate policies and practices of control. I first find that a recent sovereign turn has transformed migration politics in the Gulf. I show that contingent state policies and reforms in the past decades more accurately account for migration governance processes than oil prices and market dynamics, the nature of political regimes, or the rentier structures of Gulf polities. This study thus fills a gap in migration research on the Global South that usually focuses on emigration countries and diaspora policies and underestimates the role of immigration policies. Secondly, I find that migration policies have become more discriminatory across migrant categories in the GCC, as other studies have shown for OECD countries. Such findings lead us to discuss the global relevance of illiberal practices and policies and introduce the hypothesis of a global convergence in illiberal migration governance.
Adapting to staying, or imagining futures elsewhere: Migration decision-making of Syrian refugees in Turkey
There is a lack of research into the question of how refugees make migration decisions. Building upon the literature concerning migration aspirations and drivers of migration in contexts of forced displacement, this working paper examines the questions of how and why Syrian refugees in Istanbul and Izmir experience mobility and immobility. Drawing on the findings of a mixed-methods study conducted in 2018 amongst refugees in those two cities, it disentangles the many different ways of staying in Turkey. It offers insights into the perspectives of Syrians who aspire to return to Syria but stayed; those who want to remain in the country; those who aspire to move on to another country but stayed; and those who left for Europe but returned to Turkey. The findings of this study show a strong desire to return among the Syrian refugee population in Turkey, should the conflict come to an end. It also finds moderate aspirations to stay in Turkey, and a strong resistance to the idea of migrating further, into Europe. However, aspirations with regard to return and onwards migration were higher than actual migratory behaviour on the ground. The paper highlights that subjective factors such as life satisfaction, imaginings of the future, and hope, are crucial factors at the micro-level that shape refugees’ migration decision-making on a micro-level. The hope for return, one day, to Syria had initially motivated many Syrians to remain in Turkey. However, a combination of having given up hope of safely returning to Syria in the future, relatively high life satisfaction in Turkey, and negative ideas about what life in Europe might entail, have led Syrians to consider settling down in Turkey. Access to work is perceived as being easier there than in Europe, and a sense of a common cultural belonging has created strong counter-narratives to Europe as a potential destination.
‘Supermaids’: Hyper-resilient Subjects in Neoliberal Migration Governance
Resilience is a concept in world politics that emerged, in part, as a way to respond to the impossibility of guaranteeing security in an era of complexity. Absent a central authority that provides security, risk is devolved to the individual, and those who cannot secure themselves are enjoined to constantly adapt to the unknown. Where control over complex systems is now thought to be impossible, the path to managing risks is through self-control. This paper demonstrates how such a subject is produced, and indeed whose production, I argue, is crucial to the functioning of a global labor market that is governed ‘without government.’ Migrant domestic workers acutely instantiate the kind of human subjectivity called forth by neoliberalism – a ‘resilient subject.’ The paper describes how this ideal worker is produced through resilience training in various stages of the migration trajectory – during recruitment, training prior to deployment and while on their overseas residency. This paper demonstrates how managing the insecurities of migrant domestic work means working on the ‘self’ rather than addressing gaps in legal or regulatory mechanisms. In resilience training, the worker becomes the necessary component of neoliberalism as a governmental rationality, one that is enjoined to transform risk into opportunity. This paper draws from an eight-month multi-sited ethnography in the major migrant domestic worker sending and receiving in Southeast Asia – notably the Philippines, Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia.
Researching urban forced migrants in Turkey and Lebanon: Alternative ways to study a vulnerable population in fragile political contexts
Studying mobility aspirations of forced migrants is a challenge. Refugees are a particularly vulnerable group and displaced persons are often described as a rare or hidden group whose members are hard to identify and to locate. Representative micro-level data is scarce, with surveys frequently based on non-probability sampling techniques. Furthermore, most refugees flee to neighbouring countries which are often politically unstable and sometimes at war with the origin country, posing additional security risks to participants and researchers alike. Building on existing literature and recent fieldwork conducted in Lebanon and Turkey in 2018, we suggest a methodological approach to study mobility aspirations of Syrian urban self-settled refugees in four cities in these two countries. In doing so, we highlight the importance of considering ethical challenges, adopting a mixed methods research design which incorporates randomness in data collection (multi-stage sampling, random walks combined with limited focused enumeration of the nearest neighbour technique), the advantages of including members of the targeted population in research teams, as well as challenges encountered during the research with regards to representativeness, confidentiality, security issues and positionality.
Opening the floodgates? European migration under restrictive and liberal border regimes 1950-2010
The effect of ‘open borders’ on migration has been the subject of substantial controversy. Political rhetoric and media images help stoke fear of uncontrolled mass migration that in turn fuels arguments in favour of tighter immigration regulations and border controls to ‘bring migration back under control’. In public debates, removing migration barriers is frequently portrayed as tantamount to ‘opening the floodgates’. However, immigration liberalisation may increase also circulation and return, rendering the effect on net migration theoretically ambiguous. Drawing on bilateral flow data over the 1959-2010 period contained in the DEMIG C2C database, this paper uses European Union (EU) enlargement as a case study to assess how liberalising border regimes affected migration flows. The analysis suggests that, with some exceptions, liberalisation boosted circulation rather than led to a structural increase in intra-EU migration. While removing migration barriers can lead to migration surges—particularly when economic gaps between origin and destination countries are large—these tend to be temporary, after which migration becomes more circular and tends to consolidate at lower levels. And while intra-regional circulation in the EU has grown, closing external EU borders has increasingly pushed non-EU migrants into permanent settlement along with significant family migration. These factors help to explain the structural rise in non-EU immigration, defying policy expectations that opening internal borders would decrease non-EU immigration.
Money Matters: The Role of Funding in Migration Governance
Since the 1990s, the agencies of the United Nations (UN) have increasingly been financed through earmarked contributions from an increasingly diverse set of donors. Since the concept of voluntary contributions was absent from the UN charter owing to the concern that it would undermine multilateralism, current funding trends raise concerns about the functioning of the UN as a multilateral system. Despite this concern there is a limited but growing body of literature that examines the relationship between funding and governance. Taking migration as a case study, this paper uses a newly created data set of earmarked contributions to the International Organization for Migration (IOM) between 2000 and 2016 (n=13,306) to examine thematic and temporal patterns in the contributions of IOM’s main donors. The fragmented nature of migration governance may well be a product of the earmarked nature of its funding, and, without concrete changes in how migration is financed, is likely to remain fragmented. However, this fragmentation can be viewed from two broad perspectives. On the negative side of the ledger, it may be observed that contributions to IOM have largely focused on issues relating to the management of certain aspects of migration that are reflective of the specific interests of its donors lending weight to the argument that the fragmented nature of global migration governance may be a product of the largely earmarked nature of migration financing which has allowed bilateral interests to dominate multilateral responses to migration issues. On the other hand, earmarked funding has arguably also allowed the international community to extend protection to displaced populations not covered by the refugee convention.
Why Ethiopian women go to the Middle East: An aspiration-capability analysis of migration decision-making
This paper examines why young women in one rural region of Ethiopia make the decision to migrate as domestic workers to the Middle East. Based on survey data and in-depth interviews, it examines the forces shaping aspirations and capabilities to migrate. In particular, the paper shows this migration can be reasonable and capabilities-enhancing for young women, while at the same time, a response to a critical lack of capabilities in other domains of their lives. The paper highlights why migration aspirations arise at a particular moment in the life-course, as adolescents transition into adulthood, and how migration aspirations relate to a broader set of capabilities young women have (or lack) to realize the lives they value (Sen 1999). These insights challenge the dominant narrative of trafficking, deception and victimization around this type of migration, while highlighting the usefulness of the aspiration-capability framework to analyze precarious forms of migration.
Autocratic immigration policymaking: The illiberal paradox hypothesis
Open immigration policy changes are often cast as a feature of democracy and restrictive immigration policy changes as a feature of autocracy. This paper shows that the relationship between political regime type and immigration policy change is not as clear cut. Empirical evidence suggests that the substance of immigration policy change — in terms of openness or restrictiveness — does not significantly differ between democracies and autocracies. However, political regimes shape immigration policy dynamics, with autocracies having more leeway than democracies to open (or restrict) immigration according to their economic, geopolitical, or domestic priorities. Autocracies can more easily enact open immigration policy reforms compared to democracies if they wish to do so, a dynamic I call the ‘illiberal paradox’ and illustrate with empirical examples from across the globe. I also outline the limits of the autocratic openings on immigration, related to policy implementation, sudden policy backlashes and migrants’ integration rights. To move towards more global immigration policy theories, this paper suggests combining analyses that identify ideal types of democratic or autocratic immigration policymaking with studies of the nuances of real-life political practices. This would allow scholars to conceptualise immigration policy dynamics across the entire democracy-autocracy spectrum, for instance by capturing authoritarian practices within formal democracies and democratic practices within formal autocracies.
Immigration policy effects – A conceptual framework
The aim of this paper is twofold. Firstly, it attempts to provide a conceptual framework for the analysis of immigration policy effects. As pointed out by Hollifield (2008), the challenge of theorists of international migration is not simply to demonstrate that the state and politics matter, but to show how. By proposing an encompassing conceptualisation of the effects of immigration policy on the stock and flow of immigrants, the paper makes a first step in overcoming this challenge. However, as immigration policies have different effects on different categories of immigrants, the paper aims at providing clarity on the categorisation of immigrants and the relationship between the different categories. The categorisation of immigrants is thus discussed and the interplay between regular immigrants, asylum seekers and irregular immigrants is outlined. Secondly, immigration policy and immigration policy effects are defined and five types of immigration policy effects are identified: 1) admission effects, 2) deterrence effects, 3) deflection/substitution effects, 4) magnet effects and 5) a definition effect, and their effects on the three categories of immigrants are hypothesised.
Migration and development: Lessons from the Mexico-US and Morocco-EU experiences
This paper aims to improve the understanding of migration-development links by comparing the evaluation of Mexico-US and Morocco-EU migration over the twentieth century. Despite significant differences, Mexico and Morocco share a common geopolitical location on the global South-North migration frontier as well as their position as prime source countries of predominantly low-skilled migrants into the US and EU. The analysis highlights the large extent to which Mexican and Moroccan migration is determined by political-economic transformations in the US and EU. Persistent economic gaps and migrant networks partly explain why, instead of decreasing migration, the recruitment freezes in Mexico (1964) and Morocco (1973) have contributed to increased reliance on family and irregular migration and a diversification of migration origins and destinations. Simultaneously, policy-driven changes in labour market structure caused an increased demand for casual and informal labour in the service sector, agriculture and construction. In light of this evidence, it would be naïve to expect the 2008 financial crisis to cause a fundamental shift in migration trends because political-economic conditions fuelling migration have remained unaltered. Similarly, in spite of the considerable contributions of Mexican and Moroccan remittances to the improvement of income and living standards in origin areas, it is unrealistic to assume that migration and remittances alone can overcome generically unfavourable development conditions. Therefore, improving general development conditions through structural political and economic reform seem the most viable policy to increase the development potential of migration. If such reform does occur, Morocco and, particularly, Mexico may transform into immigration countries in the medium to long term.
Les migrations internationales en Afrique de l’Ouest: Une dynamique de régionalisation articulée à la mondialisation
En Afrique de l’ouest, les migrations internationales animent, aujourd’hui, une dynamique de régionalisation aux réticularités multiples qui sans perdre leur ancrage local se rattachent à la mondialisation des circulations migratoires contemporaines. Le phénomène de mondialisation n’y est donc pas univoque et ne se substitue pas au processus de régionalisation ; au contraire l’un et l’autre s’articulent de plus en plus par des routes, des espaces de vie provisoires, des pratiques et des acteurs nouveaux. L’objectif de cette étude est donc d’apprécier l’évolution des processus migratoires en Afrique de l’Ouest, de la période coloniale au XXIe siècle, et les recompositions spatiales induites, de comprendre la diversification et la montée en puissance des acteurs qui animent les dynamiques actuelles et d’interroger le droit qui tente d’opposer à une « surabondance » de catégories sociales, à des migrants aux profils de plus en plus flexibles, une norme juridique unique.
Migration transitions: A theoretical and empirical inquiry into the developmental drivers of international migration
This paper aims to advance a conceptual framework on the developmental drivers of international migration processes and to provide an empirical test drawing on the global migrant origin database. Conventional ideas that development in origin countries will reduce international migration are ultimately based on “push-pull”, neoclassical and other equilibrium models which assume an inversely proportional relationship between absolute levels and relative differences of wealth and migration. By contrast, another group of theories postulate that development leads to generally increased levels of migration and that societies go through migration transitions characterised by an inverted U-shaped pattern of emigration. The paper discusses as yet unobserved conceptual parallels and differences between separately evolved ‘transition’ theories. It subsequently amends and synthesises prior theories, based on a criticism of their evolutionary character and sedentary bias, their inclination towards demographic determinism, their limited conceptualisation of structure and agency as well as the causal mechanisms underlying the correlations they describe. Sen’s capabilities-based development concept is applied to migration to create analytical room to analyse most forms of migration within a single perspective. Structure and agency are incorporated by conceptualising migration as a function of (1) capabilities, (2) aspirations and, on a macro-level, (3) opportunity rather than income differentials. Because of the contested nature of migration transition theory, the paper provides an empirical test. Drawing on the World Bank/University of Sussex global migrant origin database, it estimates the effect of theoretically relevant development indicators on immigrant, emigrant, net immigrant and total migrant stocks. The results largely confirm transition theory. Higher levels of economic and human development are associated to higher overall levels of migration and have the predicted U-curve effect on emigration. The results also suggest that demographic factors do not have a direct effect on migration. Although several empirical puzzles remain, particularly on the effects of political freedoms, the results suggest that take-off development in the least developed countries is likely to lead to take-off emigration. The analysis exemplifies the need to conceptualise migration as an integral part of broader development processes rather than as problem to be “solved”.
The discursive framework for development: From discourses and concrete political actions to the range of actions by deportee associations
In early 2006, the shores of Senegal became one of the main points of departure for the cayucos (boats) destined for the Canary Islands. While readmission agreements between Spain and Senegal are the focus of diplomatic preoccupations, the Senegalese government has taken up the argument of development versus the control of migratory flows in order to negotiate compensation from the Spanish authorities. This paper will show how, beyond these political negotiations, the development argument is also a core argument used by the deportee associations which are trying to become visible in the social arena in Senegal, and to acquire a number of resources.
Le cadre discursif du développement: Des discours et actions politiques concrètes, aux répertoires d’action des associations de refoulés
Au tournant de l’année 2006, les côtes sénégalaises deviennent un des points de départ privilégiés des « cayucos » à destination des îles Canaries. Tandis que les accords de réadmission entre l’Espagne et le Sénégal sont au centre des préoccupations diplomatiques, l’argument du développement versus contrôle des flux migratoires est repris par le gouvernement sénégalais pour négocier des contreparties auprès des autorités espagnoles. Au-delà de ces négociations politiques, ce papier s’attachera à montrer comment l’argumentaire du développement constitue également un élément central du répertoire d’argumentation des associations de refoulés qui, au Sénégal, cherchent à obtenir une visibilité dans l’arène sociale et à acquérir un certain nombre de ressources.
Blinded by security: Reflections on the hardening of migratory policies in central Sahara
This working paper offers a local perspective on the dynamic nature and recent transformations of the Saharan migration system, showing how such policies affect those who live or travel through these areas. An illustration of the historical significance of intra-African migration systems for the economic development of North-West Africa is followed by an analysis of new patterns of migrations that have emerged since the 1990s throughout central Sahara, and by a critical appraisal of media and government fears about human trafficking and smuggling in the region. A brief outline of the externally driven legal and institutional frameworks that govern the movements of people in this area is provided, followed by a discussion of how people succeed in crossing the borders between Niger, Algeria and Libya, highlighting how state representatives deal with (and partake in) local migration systems. The various strategies adopted by migrants and facilitating agents to cope with hardened migration policies are presented in light of their possible local impacts in central Sahara.
Bonding Collective? The moral infrastructures of transnational hometown networks
This working paper is part of a comparative research project looking at three immigrant groups (two North African Berber groups: the Moroccan Chleuhs and the Algerian Kabyles; and the Sikh Punjabis from India) residing in two receiving countries (France and the UK). This work seeks to explain the emergence since the early 1990s of hometown associations committed to the development of their place of origin. This research draws on a previous doctoral study on Moroccan Berber immigrants in France. Since then, I have extended this research to the other two groups. This choice has been underpinned by the prospect of comparing this first group with one which displays strong similarities (the Berber Kabyles from Algeria) and another which presents distinct features (the Sikh Punjabis). The three migrations have been spurred by British and French colonisation. They are three ethnic minority groups in their origin countries which have become the forerunner of the Indian and North African migration systems. However, the conditions of their settlement in the arrival countries are obviously different. The Berber groups have predominantly remained working-class groups while the Punjabis have enjoyed a better economic integration into multicultural Britain. However, despite their common cultural, religious and historical features, Algerian Kabyles turn out to be far less committed to transnational practices than their Moroccan counterpart. Conversely, Moroccans and Indians both display a high level of engagement in cross-border development projects. Relying on Mill’s laws of comparison, my intention is to uncover the common factors which have led these two distinct groups to engage in similar practices. The Kabyle/Chleuh comparison is likely to help us highlight why some groups form developmental hometown groups while others do not. The analysis initially rests on the structure agency approach. However, the research has been heavily influenced by the theory of communicative action of Jürgen Habermas, which offers a better framework to address the coordination of collective actions. This has led me to unravel the symbolic framework which underpins the implementation of a development project, a symbolic framework which allows migrants to use remittances as a means of expression of who they are and how they position themselves within and toward the spaces of departure and arrival. This paper is the first of three working papers addressing the different layers of structural constraints which were conducive to the implementation of collective remittances of development: the moral-practical infrastructures, the agential structures and the institutional superstructures.