Movement responses - migration

Question 1

Define: MIGRATION

Answer 1

The movement of people across a specified boundary, national or international, to establish a new permanent place of residence. The UN defines permanent as a change of residence lasting more than one year.

Question 2

Define: VOLUNTARY MIGRATION

Answer 2

When the individual or household has a free choice about whether to move or not.

Question 3

Define: FORCED MIGRATION

Answer 3

Forced migration occurs when the individual or household has little or no choice but to move.

Question 4

Define: push factors

Answer 4

Negative conditions at the point of origin that encourage or force people to move.

Question 5

Define: pull factors

Answer 5

Positive conditions at the point of destination that encourage people to move.

Question 6

Define: INTERNAL MIGRATION

Answer 6

Migration within the same country

Question 7

Define: formal sector

Answer 7

Jobs in the formal sector are known to the government department that is responsible for taxation and to other government offices. Such jobs generally provide better pay and much greater security than jobs within the informal sector.

Question 8

Define: informal sector

Answer 8

The part of the economy operating outside official recognition. Employment is generally low paid and often temporary and/or part-time in nature.

Question 9

Define: refugee

Answer 9

A person who has been forced to leave home and country because of ‘a well-founded fear of persecution’ on account of race, religion, social group or political opinion.

Question 10

Define: internally displaced people

Answer 10

As for a refugee, people who are force to leave their home, but in this case remain in the same country.

Question 11

Define: remittances

Answer 11

Money sent back by migrants to their family in the home community.

Question 12

Define: diaspora

Answer 12

The dispersal of a people from their original homeland.

Question 13

Define: multiplier effect

Answer 13

Where an increase in the money supply in a region sets off an upward spiral of development as this money circulates in the economy.

Question 14

Causes of voluntary migration on the macro-level

Answer 14

1. Migration encouraged to supply labour

2. Investment in the urban-industrial sector and neglect of the rural economy

Question 15

Problems with the macro-level perspective

Answer 15

1. It fails to explain why some people migrate and others stay put when faced with very similar circumstances in peripheral areas
2. It offers no explanation as to why not all forms of migration occur in the direction of economic core regions

Question 16

CASE STUDY: Causes of voluntary migration on the meso-level

Answer 16

BRAZIL

PUSH AND PULL FACTORS

1. The mechanisation of agriculture, which has reduced the demand for farm labour in most parts of the country
2. The amalgamation of farms and estates, particularly by agricultural production companies - in Brazil, as elsewhere in Latin America, the high incidence of landlessness has led to a much greater level of rural-to-urban migration than in most parts of Africa and Asia
3. The generally poor conditions of rural employment - employers often ignore laws relating to minimum wages and other employee rights
4. Desertification in the north-east and deforestation in the north
5. Poor social conditions, particularly in terms of housing, health and accommodation
6. Unemployment and underemployment

Question 17

General causes of voluntary internal migration on the meso-level

Answer 17

1. High population growth
2. In pursuit of higher wages
3. Higher standard of accommodation
4. A better education for migrants’ children
5. Improved medical facilities
6. The conditions of infrastructure often lacking in rural areas
7. A wider range of consumer services

Question 18

What are the main criticisms of macro- and meso- scale explanations of migration?

Answer 18

1. They view migration as a passive response to a variety of stimuli
2. They tend to view rural origin areas as an undifferentiated entity

Question 19

General causes of voluntary internal migration on the micro-level

Answer 19

1. Level of income
2. Size of land holding
3. Size of household
4. Stage in the life cycle
5. Level of education
6. Cohesiveness of family unit
7. Established migrant population

Question 20

Statistics regarding migration and an established migrant population

Answer 20

1. A sample survey of rural migrants in Mumbai found that more than 75% already had one or more relatives living in the city, of whom 90% had received some form of assistance upon arrival
2. A survey of migration from the Peruvian Highlands to Lima found that 90% of migrants could rely on short-term accommodation on arrival in the city and for about 50%, their contacts had managed to arrange a job for them

Question 21

What political factors have contributed to the growing scale and speed of forced displacement?

Answer 21

1. The emergence f new forms of warfare involving the destruction of whole social, economic and political systems
2. The spread of light weapons and land mines, available at prices that enable whole populations to be armed
3. The use of mass evictions and expulsions as a weapon of war and as a means of establishing culturally and ethnically homogeneous societies - ethnic cleansing

Question 22

What physical factors have contributed to forced displacement? CASE STUDY

Answer 22

ARAL SEA BETWEEN KAZAKHSTAN AND UZBEKISTAN

1. In a large-scale effort to increase cotton production, most of the river water flowing into the Aral Sea was siphoned off for irrigation
2. Since 1960, the surface area of the sea has been reduced by a half
3. Dust from the dried-up bed of the sea, containing significant amounts of agricultural and industrial chemicals, is carried long distances by the wind, adding further to the pollution, salinisation and desertification of the land
4. Agricultural production has fallen sharply and food has increased in price
5. The fishing industry has almost been destroyed and local people are plagued with health problems
6. It has been estimated that 100,000 people have left the area since 1992 because of these problems

Question 23

Socio-economic impact of internal migration

Answer 23

DEVELOPING

1. Remittances - migrants often remit up to 60% of their incomes
2. Young adults are often those who migrate (good for the destination country, not so good for the origin country)
3. Causes a shortage of labour in the origin country / alleviates unemployment and underemployment

DEVELOPED

1. Rural depopulation - population decline in rural areas = service decline -> key services such as post offices and schools are unable to be maintained
2. Counter-urbanisation - young people’s access to the housing market declines as demand for property rises

Question 24

Political impact of internal migration

Answer 24

1. Lower political representation where migrant results in depopulation: the reduced numbers of people in a region can reduce the ‘political voice’ of the community
2. A lower population can result in a decreased funding from central government. Such a downward spiral may result in a region becoming more and more peripheral to the country as a whole
3. In contrast, where population is growing rapidly, partly at least as a result of in-migration, the political voice of such regions becomes more important. In some developing countries in particular, capital cities have grown so rapidly as to attain and increasingly dominant political and economical role. Such economic and political primacy may be of considerable benefit to the residents of a capital city, but to the detriment of the rest of the country
4. Changing ethnic composition - internal migration can significantly change the urban composition of a region or urban area, which may result in tension

Question 25

Environmental impact of internal migration

Answer 25

1. Deforestation due to the increasing demand for firewood
2. Greater and greater demands on regional water supplies and other resources
3. The expansion of landfill sites
4. Air and water pollution from factories, households, power stations, transportation, etc.

Question 26

CASE STUDY - changing ethnic composition as a result of internal migration (Nigeria)

Answer 26

NIGERIA
In the Niger delta, many local people feel that most jobs go to members of the country’s major ethnic groups, who traditionally come from elsewhere in Nigeria. The local ethnic groups, whose numbers are small in national terms, feel that they have been overlooked by the government. This has resulted in a high level of resentment and is one cause of the development of armed groups, which have become a major threat to the large oil industry in the area

Question 27

CASE STUDY - changing ethnic composition as a result of internal migration (Tibet)

Answer 27

TIBET
Prior to the Chinese occupation of Tibet in 1950, very few Chinese people lived in what is now the Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR). This has changed completely with Chinese migrants now in the majority in some parts of Tibet. In the capital, Lhasa, there are 200,000 Chinese and 100,000 Tibetans. If the present influx continues, Tibetans could become the minority population within a few decades. Most Tibetans see this as a threat to the survival of their identity and culture. Most of the in-migrants are the Han Chinese, who fall into two general groups:
1. government officials and technical experts who can be thought of as involuntary migrants
2. economic migrants - miners, construction workers, retail and other service workers
Incentives provided by the government for Han Chinese to go to Tibet include tax incentives, allowances, higher wages and better housing

Question 28

What percentage of people around the world are living outside the country of their birth?

Answer 28

1 in 35!

Question 29

What socio-economic factors influence international migration?

Answer 29

1. The extent of economic opportunities
2. The presence of family members or others of the same origin
3. The point of entry into the country

Question 30

What are the level of remittances as a result of international migration?

Answer 30

$397 billion in 2008

$305 billion to developing countries from 3% of the population

Question 31

What are the benefits of remittances?

Answer 31

DIRECT

1. Help alleviate poverty
2. Spur investment
3. Cushion the impact of global recession when private capital flows decrease

Question 32

Socio-economic impact of international migration

Answer 32

1. Donations by migrants to community projects
2. The purchase of goods and services produced in the home country by migrants working abroad
3. Increased foreign exchange reserves
4. Remittances
5. Social diversification

Question 33

Political impact of international migration

Answer 33

1. Clear trend of immigrants being more likely to vote for the left rather than the right: in more developed countries, immigrants tend to head for economic core regions and to inner city areas within these regions - concentrations can have a big impact on voting patterns
2. Political assimilation
3. High levels of international migration between one country and another can lead to political tension: Mexico and USA has created tension and has led to the US increasing the size of its border control, costing $3 billion a year
4. Immigration from Muslim countries into the EU has resulted in sizeable Muslim communities in Europe - raised concerns about Muslims who want to introduce Sharia Law into European countries
5. Developing countries look to developed countries to adopt a more favourable attitude to international migration. This political pressure is known as ‘the pro-migration agenda of developing nations’
6. Living in a different political system can change the attitudes of immigrant communities to what occurs in their home country. The harshest critics of authoritarian governments in the Middle East and Asia are exiles living in other countries