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There has been a notable absence in geographic literature concerning the connection between disasters and the concept of 'home'. Similarly, return migration has largely been overlooked in geographical enquiries, reflecting the assumption that migrants are returning 'home' in a journey that involves little adjustment. Moving beyond a consideration of the socio-economic factors that undoubtedly play a part in whether the displaced are able to return, and exploring what it means to return somewhere that is expected to be familiar and safe, this paper examines the understudied emotional motivations that influence post-disaster return decisions. Contributing to geographic literature on trauma, disasters and the concept of 'home', this paper uses semi-structured interviews with Hurricane Katrina evacuees, to explore the influence of loss and nostalgia on their decisions to return or relocate following displacement. Instead of trying to instrumentalise these decisions, I argue that they are complex, multidimensional and individually unique. This paper stresses that there is a powerful emotional quality associated with how people relate to place, recognising that return decisions are emotionally driven and not necessarily based on material constraints. In order to plan for future catastrophic events, I identify the need for a deeper understanding of the emotional intensity of the post-disaster situation, and a sustained research focus on the many factors that influence the decision to return following disaster displacement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The papers collected in this volume were originally presented at a conference in February 2004, on the theme ‘Beyond MIRAB: The Political Economy of Small Islands in the Twenty-First Century’. Several of the papers in the collection point towards the emergence of a new three-way taxonomy of small-island socioeconomic formations, comprising MIRAB, PROFIT and SITE ideal-types. The key economic flows in the first are remittances and aid; in the second, jurisdictionally-related flows such as tax-haven and money-laundering transactions; and in the third, tourism revenues. All three ideal-types correspond to potentially sustainable temporary equilibria, but in all cases the existing set-up is path-dependent, and subject to regime switch if disturbed. Conceptualisation of the small-island world as a field of multiple equilibria and path dependence points to the future importance of event studies by island researchers. The collection includes also new research on the theory of remittances, and case studies of the MIRAB process and the transnational migrant diaspora. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT This paper explores whether the concept of counterurbanisation, expanded with an international dimension, offers a valuable framework for understanding recent migration flows from the Netherlands to Sweden. Using a geo-referenced database comprising demographic and socio-economic variables, the post-migration employment status, employment sector and settlement location of Dutch migrants in Central Sweden are analysed. In addition, results from observation, interviews and a survey during emigration fairs are employed to describe the motives for migration from the Netherlands to Central Sweden. We argue that counterurbanisation is not an exhausted research topic, when international political, economic and socio-cultural factors are added to the study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the relationship between changing community context and out-migration in one of today’s poor countries, seeking to document the various mechanisms by which infrastructure affects the migratory behavior. We focus on the expansion of social and physical facilities and services near to rural people’s homes, including transportation, new markets, employment, schools, health clinics, and mass media outlets such as movie halls. We draw upon detailed data from Nepal to estimate the hypothesized effects. The direct effects of expanding economic and human capital infrastructure are clearly negative, reducing out-migration. However, increased economic infrastructure is associated with a greater accumulation of human and social capital among respondents and their parents. Through these intervening mechanisms, economic and social infrastructure increased the odds of migrating out. These results reveal the often countervailing nature of short- and long-term effects of economic and social change, and the complex pathways influencing migration outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyses the development of integration policies concerning third country nationals at the level of the European Union (EU). Starting with the discovery of recent policy developments at the European level, including new European directives mainly granting social rights to non-EU citizens, the paper proceeds to examine the reasons that enabled this shift from the national to the European level of decision making. It concludes that integration policies have been created as a new EU policy field amidst the also fairly new policy field of immigration policies. In light of the theoretical concept of “organisational fields,” the interests and motives of the main actors involved in the emergence of this policy field are analysed. The research combines neo-functionalist and intergovernmentalist assumptions, and it results in the following conclusions: First, a European integration policy could only be established within the emerging field of immigration policies, which laid the groundwork for member state collaborations in this highly sensitive policy area. Secondly, the European Parliament, the Council of Europe, several non-governmental organisations and most notably the European Commission played an important role in promoting integration policies at the European level. Their engagement is interpreted as a necessary but not as a sufficient condition for the establishment of this policy field. Thirdly, these actors tried to strengthen the status of integration policies by emphasising the linkage between successful integration policies and economic and social cohesion. This semantic strategy, among other discussed reasons, facilitated the member states’ decision at the European summit in Tampere 1999 that all third country nationals shall be granted comparable rights to EU citizens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the causes, consequences, and policy implications of Lithuanian emigration following the country’s European Union (EU) accession in May 2004. After placing Lithuanian emigration in its historical context, the study assesses the recent dynamics, including the driving forces and characteristics of Lithuanian emigration at both the international and domestic level. The study finds that the primary determinants of this movement are both demand- and supply-side factors. On the demand side, the labour shortages, decline in the working age population, and desire for cheaper labour in Western European countries function to attract Lithuanian labour. Concurrently, lower wages, higher unemployment, and the generally less developed economic conditions in Lithuania are encouraging Lithuanians to take advantage of the greater mobility that came with EU accession. The expanding networks linking migrants and potential migrants are facilitating this out-migration, as well as the social mind-set by which emigration is a perceived solution to socio-economic difficulties. This study concludes that the consequences of this new emigration reality are mixed. The free movement of workers has helped to relieve pressure on the domestic labour market, drive down unemployment, place upward pressure on wages, and increase the remittances rate to Lithuania. However, concern is not ill-founded; recent emigration has introduced labour market shortages, placed greater demographic pressure on the country, and increased the likelihood of brain drain. This study argues, therefore, that while Lithuanian emigration cannot and should not be stopped, Lithuania does have policy alternatives as a sending-country that will help to mitigate the costs of emigration and maximize the benefits for the country’s long-term development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human smuggling has recently become an important issue in the migration policy debate almost worldwide. Despite suggestions about how to handle this phenomenon ranging from common border policies to an augmentation of legal migration channels, surprisingly little is known about the mechanisms of human smuggling, particularly its organizational principles. This paper aims to give both overview and insight into the organizational principles of human smuggling processes. The empirical results are based upon two different kinds of material, expert interviews, and - almost exclusively in this field - copies of 51 complete court proceedings from all over Germany. They consist, apart from police reports and judgments of the courts, of interrogations of smugglers and smuggled persons as well as smugglers' telephone conversations, which were transcribed and translated. All in all, these cases provide information on several hundred human smugglers and approximately 20,000 persons being smuggled. For each case, the essentials were checked, including the socio-economic characteristics of the smugglers and those being smuggled, which consisted of age, gender, origin, education, and social status. With regard to the smuggling process, the details examined included who commissioned the smuggling, which places were used as stages on the journey, which means of transport were employed, whether forged documents or documents obtained by artifice played a role, the method of payment, the fees paid, the influence of the ethnic group, and whether the smugglers had connections to other criminal fields. The combination of these elements then led toward a typology of human smuggling processes. Three main types of human smuggling processes have been worked out: the first is “individual smuggling with a high degree of self-responsibility”, and although in expert interviews this form of smuggling without pre-organized stages was supposed to be anachronical, in fact it still exists; the second is “covered” smuggling based upon obtaining visa by artifice; the third is “pre-organized stage-to-stage smuggling”, which was divided into three subtypes mainly influenced by the origin of both the smugglers (“stage coordinators”) and the smuggled migrants. Overall, it can be said that in the absolute majority of the cases there is nobody in control of the whole smuggling process like a leader of a criminal organization. For functional reasons, it would also be inefficient for a huge organization to be responsible for a process that comprises distances of several thousand kilometres. Thus, members of an almost entirely mono-ethnic network function as “stage coordinators” while the smuggling actions themselves are outsourced to local smuggling groups. Such a close network of relatively few stage coordinators hardly ever meeting each other is only conceivable under the pre-condition of existing modern communication systems. The coordination level of human smuggling processes, therefore, seems to be an entire part of the migration network. On the other hand, the actions of the local smugglers on the performing level are completely guided by market conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article we survey common themes in recent migration research and comment on the actual and potential contribution of regional science to this literature. There has been a marked shift in research from internal to international migration. The two research programmes would benefit from a unified framework. Spatial and systemic features of migration systems remain underdeveloped. Moreover, the perspectives from the different disciplines that intersect in regional science can still be integrated better. Communication of the research findings in terms understood by policymakers and practitioners is also desirable. Finally, many new and interesting research topics will emerge when greater effort is made to link migration research with other current research topics in regional science. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]