The Ethnosurvey Revisited: New Migrations, New Methodologies?

Author(s): Paweł Kaczmarczyk,Douglas S. Massey / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2019

This article provides a detailed review of the ethnosurvey, a research methodology that has been widely applied to the study of migration for almost four decades. We focus on the application of ethnosurvey methods in Mexico and Poland, drawing on studies done in the former country since the early 1980s and, in the latter, since the early 1990s (including several post-2004 examples). The second case is particularly relevant for our analysis as it refers to a number of novel migration forms that have been identified in Central and Eastern Europe in the post-1989 transition period. Drawing on these studies, we consider the advantages and disadvantages of the ethnosurvey as a research tool for studying international migration. Its advantages include its multilevel design, blend of qualitative and quantitative methods, reliance on retrospective life histories and multisited data collection strategy. These features yield a rich database that has enabled researchers to capture circular, irregular, short-term and sequential movements. Its disadvantages primarily stem from its hybrid sampling strategy, which necessarily places limits on estimation and generalisability and on the technical challenges of parallel sampling in communities of both origin and destination. Here we argue that the ethnosurvey was never proposed and should not be taken as a universal methodology applicable in all circumstances. Rather it represents a specialised tool which, when correctly applied under the right conditions, can be extremely useful in revealing the social and economic mechanisms that underlie human mobility, thus yielding a fuller understanding of international migration’s complex causes and diverse consequences in both sending and receiving societies.

Истраживање миграција у централној и југоисточној Европи: увод у темат

Author(s): Sanja Zlatanović,Juraj Marušiak / Language(s): Serbian Issue: 3/2019

This issue consists of eleven papers dedicated to migrations of individuals and/or communities in Southeast and Central Europe. The concept of its topic is interdisciplinary – it is comprised of papers which examine the migration phenomenon, combining research methods of ethnology and social anthropology, sociology, history and political science. Despite the immense diversity of migration types researched, a significant number of them is, in their different ways, directly or indirectly, connected to the war (the first six papers). Economic reasons are also at the core of many migrations, and can be, but not necessarily so, connected to the war and the crisis common in post-war regions. In addition, personal reasons represent a possible motive for initiating migration, as shown in several papers.

After Coming Home: Forms and Meanings of Return in Dayton’s Bosnia and Herzegovina

Author(s): Ondřej Žíla / Language(s): English Issue: 3/2019

The Dayton Agreement was meant to end the war, restore the Bosnian state to its prewar multiethnic composition, and facilitate rebuilding coexistence among its constituent nations. The peace treaty stipulated that people who were forced to leave their homes had a right to return home freely. To do so, the most important provisions were contained in Annex 7, which focused on arranging the return of refugees and IDPs. Minority returns became a special tool for measuring success in the peacebuilding process. Since repatriation did not happen in the way the international community anticipated, the fulfillment of Annex 7 became a political priority. Since 1999, international agencies (OHR, UNHCR, and others) have set the return of minorities at the top of their agenda. Although the repatriation process has not officially been concluded, the number of returnees were low after 2006. It is no longer much of a priority for anybody except verbally for political purposes. This study addresses the question of under what circumstances we can talk about a minority return being “successful”. Given the complexities of the repatriation process, its dynamics, and the fact that no return could actually end at the moment of formal inhabitation at the prewar address, this article proposes that categories for minority repatriation should not be considered through the binary of “successful” and “unsuccessful” but along a continuum running from “complete” to “incomplete” types of sustainable return and to specific forms of unsustainable (“unsuccessful”) return. Based on results obtained from field research in select Bosnian localities between 2010 and 2018, I argue that the term “return” has several facets which impact its sustainability and character.

Refugee Integration in Bulgaria: Conditions and Challenges

Author(s): Yelis Erolova / Language(s): English Issue: 3/2019

Between 2013 and 2016, the inflow of Middle Eastern refugees to other European countries increased sharply. Their transit migration through Bulgaria was determined by their preliminary intention to settle in countries with a higher standard of living, affording better reception and better conditions for social integration. Few asylum seekers from Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran prefer Bulgaria as their final destination. The article focuses on their case and analyses the national legal framework and the policy decisions in the field of social and cultural integration by comparing these with society’s attitudes to refugees and with the asylum seekers/refugees’ expectations, impressions and experience, surveyed through in-depth interviews and focus group discussions held in 2018. The results of this comparative research show that refugees in Bulgaria have developed adaptive socio-economic and cultural strategies of their own according to their specific characteristics and needs in the context of different government integration programs lacking a clearly defined vision of integration, of blurred responsibility of state institutions, limitations and minimal effects of the existing legislation on social integration of refugees, negative public speech, and stereotypical social attitudes.

Студије избеглиштва или студије принудних миграција: теоријско-методолошки осврт и разматрање мултидисциплинарности у примени друштвених и хуманистичких наука

Author(s): Teodora Jovanović / Language(s): Serbian Issue: 3/2019

This paper aims to present to domestic audience a comprehensive view of multidisciplinary research field known as “refugee studies” or “forced migration studies”, which was formally founded in the early 1980s. I will show that the scientific problem of conceptual distinction between “refugee” and “forced migration” is embedded within the history of this research field, but also in the socio-political context. Academic multidisciplinary field considered in this paper was not formed in a theoretical vacuum, but in conjunction with international and humanitarian refugee protection order. Further, multidisciplinarity is one of the strategies for utilization of scientific insights in creation or change of policy. Refugee studies and forced migration studies had an impact on changes of humanitarian organizations policies, but also the other way around – conceptual apparatus of certain organizations and way of migration governance had an influence on scientific deliberation of refugee and forced migration phenomena.

Migration of the Poles to Slovakia after World War II

Author(s): Michał Lubicz Miszewski / Language(s): English Issue: 3/2019

The article presents post-war migrations of the Poles to Slovakia, both during the period of existence of the Czechoslovakia and after the Velvet Revolution that led to the creation of independent Slovakia on January 1, 1993. The state has not too often been the direction of Polish emigration. The Poles in Slovakia constitute a sparse and highly dispersed population. The results of the 2011 census showed that only 3,084 people claimed to be of Polish nationality. The decision to settle in Slovakia quite frequently stems from the fact of finding a spouse of Slovak nationality in this country. As a result, the descendants of Polish citizens coming to Slovakia are brought up in bicultural, Polish-Slovak families

Marriage Migrants in Bulgaria – Aspects of Social Adaptation

Author(s): Desislava Pileva / Language(s): Serbian Issue: 3/2019

This article is based on first-hand ethnographic data and focuses on two cases of bicultural, bilingual and cross-national couples of Bulgarian women and their migrant husbands (an Egyptian and a Filipino). More specifically, it deals with different aspects of social and emotional adaptation of the male marriage migrants to the receiving country – Bulgaria. The main goal of the article is to present different specificities of their everyday life, socialisation and professional development abroad while still being close to their roots. Since marriage with a local is a crucial factor for this multi-layered process, the role of their Bulgarian wives is also considered. The text contains two thematic sections – the first one focuses on the social adaptation of the immigrants in the context of Bulgarian language acquisition. The process each of the foreigners have been going through is presented by their manners of communication within their own bilingual marriages, the professional environment and the ‘new’ social circle. The second section deals with the place of the immigrants’ home country within their lives in migration and their nuclear mixed families. Their habits and the activities they engage in ‘there’, are also used as a tool for describing a part of their social and emotional adaptation ‘here’.

Миграције планинског становништва југоисточне Србије у Зајечар и околину: пример трајних миграција планина–низија

Author(s): Dejan Krstić / Language(s): Serbian Issue: 3/2019

Higlands-to-lowlands migrations are typical of the Balkan peninsula. This type of migration lasted for the last two centuries and in the beginning it was seasonal, comprising mainly workforce, but in later stages it became permanent. However, despite its intensity, social significance and its consequences, it hasn't been observed closely in scientific literature. A permanent migration of this type hasn't even been identified as a distinguished and important social occurrence or as a scientific problem. The reason for this is its coinciding with migrations from the country to cities. This paper analyzes an evident example of permanent higlands-to-lowlands migrations: migrations of highlands inhabitants of southeast Serbia to Zaječar and its surrounding villages, which began after the First World War and intensified significantly from the 50's to the 80's of the 20th century during the socialist industrialization. Main aspects of this type of migration are listed at the end of the paper.

Introduction to the Special Issue: Debating Immigration in a Country of Emigration

Author(s): Remus Gabriel Anghel,Anatolie Coșciug / Language(s): English Issue: 1-2/2018

Rozwój i perspektywy ruchów migracyjnych do Unii Europejskiej

Author(s): Radosław Murkowski / Language(s): English,Polish Issue: 04/2019

The aim of the article is to characterize the development of illegal influx of people from the Near East and Africa to Europe since 2015, commonly known as the “refugee crisis”. The research problem is to show the scale of currently ongoing migratory movements to the European Union against the backdrop of earlier migratory streams and to forecastpossible future developments of migration. The author puts forward the thesis that the currently observed movements of people are just a part of greater migratory streams to Europe that became intensified in the period since 2015 due to armed conflicts in some of the Arab states. A hypothesis is also formulated that in the future further intensive development of migratory movements to European Union can be expected due to predicted marked population growth in the countries of Africa and the Near East. The study is based on analysis of statistical data on migratory movements published by Eurostat (European Statistical Office), Frontex (European Border and Coast Guard Agency) and the United Nations Organization.

Migrant crisis in the EU and its demographic context. Directions of Poland’s migration policy after 2018

Author(s): Grzegorz Zbińkowski / Language(s): English Issue: 04/2019

The objectives of this paper are: (i) presentation of theoretical aspects of migration and migrant crisis in the EU in 2015 (its causes, the Vysehrad Group’s position on the issue and the status of the relocation process, including the arrangements on strengthening the role and enhancing operating capacity of Frontex); (ii) comparative analysis of selected demographic indicators for individual EU countries (including Poland) / EU-28 in the context of the migrant crisis: fertility rate, mother’s mean age at first birth, death rate and population in 1998−2018 together with the population forecast until 2049; (iii) discussion of the following data for Poland: emigration-immigration migration balance in 2006−2017 and labour deficit; (iv) presentation of Poland’s migration policy (its formal aspects, threats and opportunities, directions). The research objective is an answer to the question of what the causes were of the 2015 migrant crisis and steps taken by the EU in this scope; and what directions Poland’s migration policy should take. The analysis assumes the following research hypothesis: “a failure to introduce and implement a deliberate, multiyear migration policy, addressing the existing and future challenges will result in Poland’s population decreasing by 3.44 million in 2019−2049”. The hypothesis was verified through presenting Eurostat’s forecasts with the simultaneous definition of required directions of Poland’s migration policy after 2018, that is: (i) deceleration of the decrease rate for Poland’s population through: increase in the replacement rate, reduction of the death rate (to at most the EU-28 average) and decrease in mother’s mean age at first birth; (ii) striving to obtain a positive migration balance (with emigration reduction prioritised); (iii) support for remigration; (iv) preventing illegal immigration;(v) implementation of simple mechanisms and procedures for employing foreigners in Poland, with resulting reduction of labour deficit; (vi) integration of foreigners. The hypothesis has been verified to be true. The following research methods were applied: the historical method (origin, progress, meaning), content analysis (research into documents), as well as the quantitative and qualitative method (numeric data analysis.

INTELLIGENCE AND MIGRATION

Author(s): Florian Coldea / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2019

As an intelligence practitioner, it has been my experience that migration has very different implications for different factors of decision-making factors: it can bring significant advantages from an economic and social point of view, it can be a humanitarian necessity, as well as an obligation to comply with the most basic human rights, but migration on a big scale is also a serious security concern, with potential of generating acute regional instability and insecurity. And those effects have significant impact on both target, and transit countries. Alongside other relevant institutions, intelligence too has a significant role in detecting threats associated with migratory waves, regardless if they consist of refugees or economic migrants. The highest risk is, of course, that of terrorism suspects infiltrating both afore-mentioned legitimate categories, while another hot topic related to this phenomenon is still the foreign fighters/ returnees problem. On one side, there is the thorny question of identifying potential terrorism suspects among millions of people, some fleeing war and inhumane living conditions. And this risk cannot be managed by any single authority alone. It takes close cooperation among local integration authorities, law enforcement and border control representatives, and intelligence agencies. There is also an acute need for further regional cooperation, but also of cooperation with other countries, some adherent to radically different ideologies, which poses several questions, varying from the protection of secrecy, to professional intelligence ethics. Fact is, only a joint effort can generate early warning and the implementation of adequate prevention and countering measures for all kinds of risks and threats related to this complex phenomenon of migration. And, in this regard, one of the most difficult issues we are facing is detecting a person’s actual identity, while a fake identity isn’t necessarily a signal for a hidden, dangerous agenda. There are also other issues at stake, weighting in on intelligence: the incumbent risks of refugee camps, starting with rioting, altercations with local authorities, and involvement of organized crime networks. Organized crime in Serbia and Macedonia, for example, has been facilitating illegal migrant traffic towards Western Europe for the past four years, becoming a serious concern for European intelligence. Other potential threats stem from the fact that some organizations claiming to help refugees in Greece and Turkey were reported to be actually run by Islamic groups connected to terrorist organizations. And there are also other adverse effects in the host societies which are in intelligence’s purview: the reactivation of far right ideas and groups, such as nationalist and supremacist groups with a potentially violent behavior. Intelligence is just a piece of the puzzle in dealing with the phenomenon, but it also has its limitations and needs to enhance its capacity in order to limit risks and threats. Those are some of the premises of a tense relation between migrants and intelligence, which I believe is worth further exploration.

MIGRATORY WAVES: HISTORICAL AND SOCIAL ASPECTS IN THE SHAPING OF INTERCULTURAL DIALOGUE

Author(s): Mariselda Tessarolo / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2019

Sociology has always been interested in social changes and the way such changes affect society. The latter is not compact and monolithic, but rather malleable and modifiable. The desire for a unitary world where all people acquire the same cultural standard is strong, even though it is impossible to decide what standards all should conform to. A subject willing to migrate performs what Merton calls an “anticipatory socialization”. A migrant person prepares beforehand to be open to language models that are different from those of his/her own native language, as well as different models of belonging, for the present and the future. A migrating world is, in sum, a world dominated by a propensity to intercultural dialogue. In order to investigate this issue, two kinds of migration that took place from Albania to Italy in two historical periods are taken as an example to see how intercultural dialogue took place and how it is currently taking place. The examples we focus on are a succession of eight migrations that occurred between 1399 and 1774, and the two more recent migrations of 1991 and 1997. The Arbëreshë (or Albanians of Italy) primarily fled the Ottoman expansion while it was gaining new territories to the west; they also responded to appeals made by the kings of Naples and the Two Sicilies for soldiers to help ward off a conspiracy by the nobility. The Arbëreshë were granted land in the South of Italy as a reward, and the fact that such lands were mostly isolated made it easier for them to keep their customs and language. In the two latest migration waves that occurred in the 20th century, Albanians mostly fled their country by sea, facing dramatic situations to cross the Adriatic sea by boat and reach the ports of Apulia. The first migrations, the “historical” ones, led to a deep intercultural dialogue. The Arbëreshë followed the history of Italy and fought in the wars for the independence of the country. When they emigrated to the Americas at the beginning of the 20th century, only half of their population was left in Italy; and in getting to other countries, most of them were considered Italians, since that was actually their nationality. In the 1960s and 1970s there was an ethnic awakening to enhance and preserve the linguistic minority of the Arbëreshë, who were granted the status of protected minority by Unesco in 2017. Finally, we remember an internal migration displacing very large numbers of Italians from the south to the north of the country; many Arbëreshë were assimilated, even if an Arbëreshë community was recreated in Turin that kept the language and religious forms. In 2018, almost 500,000 Albanians from the latest migration applied for Italian citizenship.

HOW TO END THE SYRIAN CIVIL WAR AND ITS REFUGEE CRISIS - A POSSIBLE SCENARIO

Author(s): Gabriel GIUVARA,Gabriel Răducanu / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2019

The Syrian Arab Republic was established after the World War I; administrated initially by the French, the country became independent in 1946 (CIA, 2019). Hafiz al-Assad, member of the Baath Arab Socialist Party took power through a military coup in 1963 (CIA, 2019);his government headed by a single Party declared the state of emergency that would last for 48 years. When Hafiz al-Assad died, by 2000, his son Bashar al-Assad became president by popular referendum. Maintaining the state of emergency allowed al-Assad to retain strict control of security forces and all social and political sectors. The late 2010-early 2011 civil unrest, known as the Arab Spring, spread like wildfire and blew its ‘wind of change’ across Northern Africa and the Middle East. Butin Syria, the protests did not echo nationwide; the security forces suppressed them quickly. In March 2011 however, following the arrest and torture of a couple of students who had written anti-Assad messages on a wall, the situation escalated and protests broke out again. In an attempt to defuse the situation, the security forces opened fire and killed four people. It was the beginning of Syrian civil war, which “has produced over 140,000 dead, hundreds of thousands wounded, and almost half of Syria’s population displaced, either internally or in refugee camps on Syria’s border” (Amos, 2014). This article focuses on describing the existing situation and a desired end state, defining the problem and developing a possible approach to end the Syrian civil war and its refugee crisis.

EACH NATION’S ARK ON THE WAVES OF NEW “MIGRATION FLOOD”. ROMANIA’S INSTITUTIONAL AND CULTURAL PREPAREDNESS

Author(s): Adrian Lesenciuc,Ammar El Benni / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2019

The current paper approaches a topic of maximum relevance for regional and national security: the effects of migratory waves from the conflict zones of the Middle East on Romania’s capacity to adapt to the dynamics of illegal cross-border flows. It has been revealed as a particular reflection of the subject of a broad research on the Islamic State (Daesh) and the impact of its actions on global/regional/national security. Under these circumstances, the present paper approaches aspects related to one of the major effects of the actions performed by the Islamic State: the displacement of migratory waves from the Middle East conflict zones and their absorption in Europe. At the same time, the paper focuses on Romania’s role in the migration crisis, as a disjunctive element in rapport with the topic of the broad research, analyzing the cultural impact of the immigration phenomenon. Despite a rich and diverse specialized literature, from the perspective of its approach to the effects that immigration produces in Europe (focusing on political, cultural, religious and economic aspects), especially numerous articles expressing mainly the European version of the matter, the researchers belonging to the transit or target-countries, the immigration phenomenon is not the subject of a thorough cultural and security analysis in the Romanian academic environment. Starting from this premise and from the original purpose of the research - the analysis of the effects of the Islamic State actions - we opted for a thorough research, involving the use of qualitative research methods: the semi-structured interview with specialists and the participatory observation, engaging equally political decision-makers, diplomats, religious leaders, academics (national security specialists), intelligence analysts, opinion makers. The deep-dive interview, conducted in Romanian, Arabic or English, with 31 subjects covering the above mentioned areas of expertise, with experience in national security, over 50 years of age, coming from Europe and the Middle East but also from the United States of America or Africa (Romanian, Turkish, Dutch, Syrian, Israeli, Palestinian, Egyptian, American), Orthodox, Catholic, Muslim or Mosaic Christians provide a comprehensive reading that is appropriate to the need for a deep knowledge of a phenomenon holding great implications for global, regional and national security. Through this article, which involves a multifaceted and complex approach to the immigration phenomenon as a Euro-Atlantic security dimension, as defined by the National Defense Strategy for the period 2015-2019 (2015: 13), we intend to offer a complex framework of analysis consistent with the promotion of legal migration, while reducing the security risks involved.

MIGRATIONS AND CITIZENSHIP. THE PEDAGOGICAL APPROACH FOR A COSMOPOLITAN CITIZENSHIP

Author(s): Alberto Fornasari,Matteo Conte / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2019

Being interested in intercultural issues is a necessity for pedagogical and educational research. The priority task becomes to draw a model of citizenship, which in recent years has greatly expanded, taking into account a real interaction between the different groups. In order to create an intercultural society, it is necessary to ensure the possibility of recognizing and sharing a minimum core of principles and rules that constitute the basis of a common coexistence. This article reports the most recent reflections in the pedagogical field on the concept of citizenship, within the global society, which can be harmonious and pluralistic, as desired by E. Mounier, only if education will appreciate the multiculturalism and multi-religiousness already present in our societies.

ADOPTION OF THE GLOBAL COMPACT FOR MIGRATION AND THE STEPS TO FOLLOW IN THE EUROPEAN REGIONAL CONTEXT

Author(s): Eduard MIHAI,Ovidiu Moşoiu,Ion Bălăceanu / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2019

The adoption of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM) under the auspices of the United Nations General Assembly through the Intergovernmental Conference that took place in Marrakech, Morocco on the 10th and 11th of December, 2018 opens a new perspective to the states governance and the international cooperation on how to tackle the challenges of managing the migration at national, regional and worldwide level. In the same time, it is an opportunity for the Member States to be involved in both long and short-term actions that will strengthen the measures intended to answer to better managing international migration. In the light of this context and despite the lack of consensus on several migration issues, the Europe Union member states should take further steps in finding the best approach and solutions that fit every state’s specific situation regarding migration. Accordingly, the aim of this article consists of a qualitative analysis meant to prove the necessity of these steps.

ILLEGAL MIGRATION, THE CURRENT ISSUE OF THE SECURITY OF NATIONS

Author(s): Ovidiu Moşoiu,Eduard MIHAI,Ion Bălăceanu / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2019

Given the current international context, the security of the state cannot be realized independently, but only by developing and enhancing international cooperation. Furthermore, being a member of an international security organization comes with certain risks, considering the current escalation of international tensions and threats. Because of the complexity of the different activity fields, organized crime represents a transnational risk, which must be fought against by all of the states, given the social impact of it. Illegal migration, studied as a component of organized crime, creates a series of social and cultural issues, starting from the entities that support it during the migration process, up to the integration of the migrants in the hosting society. The individuals’ behavior is unpredictable because it is mainly the result of the cultural and religious aspects of their homeland, which are significantly different from the ones of the hosting state. The religious tolerance and the solution to social integration problems can be achieved by intercultural communication. The integration of the migrants brings the hosting state the responsibility of providing a set of rights and obligations, in order to allow the migrants to be engaged in the social, economic and cultural life of the hosting community.

BETWEEN WORK IMMIGRANTS AND REFUGEES

Author(s): Michelle Abergel / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2020

Over the past decades, there have been many global changes, which have led to a massive growth in immigration, mainly from developing countries to developed countries. This phenomenon is caused mainly because of the lack of job opportunities in the developing countries, along with other factors. As a result, many people who strive to improve the conditions for them and their families choose to leave their homes and travel to other countries, where they hope to start a better life. This leads to a growing number of work immigrants in many countries around the world. In Israel, the number of work immigrants is growing every year, causing social and political disturbances, and making the Israeli population develop hate towards these immigrants. By exploring the history of this phenomenon and its reach throughout the world, I hope to set the background which will help me understand the phenomenon as it is evident in Israel today. The present article wishes to address the subject of work immigrants in Israel, to develop a new framework for thought regarding the foreign and domestic policy about work immigrants and asylum seekers and to explore the way these immigrants are treated in Israel.

TRENDS IN CURRENT INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION

Author(s): Brînduşa-Mihaela Radu / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2020

Labor migration is the subject of many specialized studies that are the subject of interdisciplinary sciences such as economics, international affairs, European law, sociology and many others. Due to the evolution of the Romanian economy in recent years, it is important and necessary for any future economist to understand this topic as well as possible (Petrozziello, 2013). Looking ahead, it is necessary to know as much information as possible about the factors underlying the development of the country’s economy, as well as about the factors that determine this migration of labor force at international level. If the main reason why at this moment the labor force chose to leave the country of origin and to migrate to the states with a developed economy is a better life, the aim is to provide children with a better future. Worldwide (Katseli et all, 2006), it is currently estimated that there are over 200 million migrants, even the International Day of the Migrant is established, in which this phenomenon has become normal, and in which, mainly, information on human rights is disseminated and to the freedoms of migrants. Nor is Romania outside this framework of international normality, only that the elements of distinction are generated by the reasons for emigration, which, as will be analysed, in a synthetic form, in the following case study, are confined to both economic factors. but, last but not least, the socio-political factors. The paper addresses the problems of international migration and the importance of the migration of the labor force at present on the economic development of a country.