Der Westbalkan als Quell- und Transitraum von Fluchtmigration: Quo vaditis?
The Western Balkans as a Source and Transit Area of Migration: Quo vaditis?

Summary/Abstract: In 2015, refugees and the “refugee crisis” were the predominant topics of political and public discourses in Germany and Europe. Germany is facing challenges that stir up great fears. The situation in Southeast Europe is similar, especially with regard to irregular migration and the flow of refugees towards the European Union. An analysis concerning the Western Balkan countries needs to consider two perspectives separately: On the one hand, they are the source of migrants to whom a refugee status will hardly be awarded. On the other hand, they are mainly the transit corridor for hundreds of thousands of refugees fleeing war, unrest, uncertainty,and economic hardship. In the article these two perspectives are treated separately. The analysis of the Western Balkans as a source of migration flows deals mainly with aspects of multiple causation and contexts “on the ground”, but also with the prospects of migration to Germany. The second part of the paper focuses on transit migration and uses the classic push-pull-approach for the analysis of migrants’ motivations and their problems en route. Finally, necessities of migration and integration management will be discussed. They relate to the maintenance of border control, the protection of refugees’ basic fundamental human rights according to common European values and the criticism of unilateral national and sectoral solutions to this “crisis”.

• Details
• Contents