The Next Waves: Migration Theory for a Changing World

Abstract

In the last quarter of a century, migration theory has undergone fundamental change, moving from the classic “individual relocation” genre initiated by Ravenstein a century ago, to a variety of new approaches which nevertheless share important elements: they tend to be historical, structural, globalist and critical. Historicization implies a constant modification of theoretical concerns and emphases in the light of changing social realities, and commitment to a critical approach entails a view of research as one element in a broader project concerned with the elucidation of social and political conditions. The article uses elements from two major theoretical traditions — a modified world-systems approach and state theory — to project current trends. Global inequality is considered as a structural given. The article then reviews major topics, including the persistence of restrictive immigration policies as barriers to movement, changing patterns of exploitation of foreign labor, liberalization of exit from the socialist world and the refugee crisis in the developing world. It concludes with a brief consideration of the normative implications of these trends.

Who Gets In and Why?: <i>The Swedish Experience with Demand Driven Labour Migration – Some Preliminary Results</i>

“…Government restrictions are mainly dealt with as distortions of the rational market in economic theories of migration (Castles & Miller 2009). But borders and migration policy regulations must be taken into account to understand migration patterns and the fact that few persons migrate despite economic disparities and immigrant networks (Zolberg 1981(Zolberg , 1989. The right of a state to control entry and exit of persons from its territory is an undisputed principle in international law (Shaw 1997).…”

International Economic Assistance and Migration: The Case of Sub‐Saharan Countries

“…The intuition of Zelinsky has been further explored and developed by recent contributions. While some authors argue that migration is a phenomenon social in nature and that it is not purely determined by push and pull factors (Mitchell, 1989, Portes and Borocz, 1989, Zolberg, 1989, others explicitly focus on international economic relations as an important influence on migration patterns (see, e.g., Schiff, 1994, Martin, 1998, Vogler and Rotte, 2000 and find that economic growth -whether driven by trade liberalization, foreign direct investments and aids -might increase people's ability to migrate abroad (Faini and Venturini, 1994, Martin, 1993, Martin and Taylor, 1996, Olesen, 2002. So that, this literature argues, economic development is likely to lead to more migration from poor countries in the short/medium term.…”

In the shadow of fortress Europe? Impacts of European migration governance on Slovenia, Croatia and Macedonia

“…While international migration is often represented as a challenge (or threat) to governance, we argue that it is more appropriate to think of it as a challenge of governance because international migration is constituted and conditioned by the borders and boundaries of states (Zolberg 1989). The governance of migration in SEE thus cuts across what Rosenau (1997) termed the 'domestic-foreign Frontier' and is also reflective of what Heisler (1992) identified as a key feature of international migration as an issue in international politics; namely that it is simultaneously a societal and an international issue and needs to be analysed across these levels.…”