Migration & Citizenship
Lecture 1: Origin countries
➔ Introduction to international migration
➔ Myths about migration, false perception, misunderstanding
◆ migration as a “problem” to be solved
◆ scientifically it’s not a problem, it has nuance
◆ different perspective: normal process, people has always migrated
◆ lack of knowledge what causes migration on the first place
➔ Need for looking at other side of migration: origin countries
➔ Myths:
1. We live in times of unprecedented mass migration
● true: since 1960s around 3% of people are migrants
● refugees: goes up and down but not increasing
● most refugees don’t come to “the West” but stays in surrounding
countries
◆ What about illegal migration? See arrivals: 2-5% total of yearly immigration
◆ Non-migrants: 83,3%; internal migrants: 13,1% (mostly people moving from
rural to urban areas); international migrants: 3,3%; refugees: 0,3%
◆ There’s no massive movement! Neither exodus, nor invasion!
➔ BUT what has changed?
➔ Before: Europeans always moved out of Europe, illegally occupied other countries,
migrated from continent
➔ Change: after WWII Europe become a destination for migrants, labour shortages,
migrants from South and Eastern Europe, inviting guest workers from outside
Europe
➔ Migration propaganda: played a big role in Brexit
➔ Political fabrication of migration threats
2. Immigration restrictions reduce migration: Borders and fences
◆ Immigration restriction can lead to more (permanent) migration
◆ more difficult you make it to come in then less migrants want to go back
◆ Why do borders generally not stop migration?
◆ Migration is a social process, people flow back and forth
◆ Borders: people will do everything to cross the border, desire to go back goes
much lower because people are afraid to not be able to enter again
1
, Migration & Citizenship
◆ E.g. in US the number of permanent Latino migrants increased since building
of the wall in last 30 years
◆ How the Dutch government stimulated unwanted migration from Suriname?
Before independence the Surinamese held Dutch passports and could freely
come, and then Dutch government pushed for their independence (so they
would stop coming) so Surinamese massively came to NL to pick their
passports and then travel freely
◆ African migration: less people has appetite to go back after introducing more
restrictions
◆ How border controls backfired Moroccans migration to OECD countries
➔ The migration paradox: The three “Guianas”
◆ French Guiana people aren’t fixated with migration cuz they can freely
moved to France if they want to
3. Development in poor countries will reduce migration
➔ reinforces the idea that migration is a misery, migrants are desperate to move out,
migrants are victims
➔ nonsensical, no agency: migration as a push out of misery towards treasure traps of
the west, push/pull false logic
➔ African migration: mostly within continent, neighboring countries, people don’t
want to move far away
➔ The migration paradox: growing wealth, growing emigration?
◆ Morocco: Migration increased despite increase of GDP per capita
➔ Relation between migration and human/economic development
➔ When the country develops from low to middle the emigration increases, migration
rises as poor countries get richer
➔ How is that possible?
◆ Migration is expensive! Migration is investment (in better future of families),
a decision, requires resources
◆ Skills and education makes it easier to migrate and get a job abroad, the
higher you get educated the more far away you move, it’s easier to find a job
with low skilled work,
◆ Development of infrastructure, development of region makes there are less
people needed to work e.g. in farming, internet changes aspirations,
perception of good life
◆ Macro-structural:
◆ Micro-agentic / behavioral: aspirations-capabilities model
2
, Migration & Citizenship
◆ Migration is part of development, you won’t stop migration with more aid for
development
➔ Migration as a resource and investment into a better future rather than a last resort or
a ‘desperate flight”
➔ Remittances - a vital course of ‘bottom up’ development aid
➔ Migration as a vehicle for emancipation in rural Ethiopia: to the Gulf and back,
migration as life-changing
➔ India: from “brain drain” to “brain gain”
4. Climate change will lead to mass migration
➔ Simplistic assumptions, bad methodologies, lack of real evidence
➔ Climate migration is very unlikely to cause a mass international migration
➔ Migration goes down with natural disasters, natural disasters make it more difficult
to afford migration to Europe
➔ Natural disasters usually affects people who were and are not able to move anyway,
people who are already disadvantaged, people who can’t afford and don’t want to
move far away, the poorest of the poorest can’t make it to leave the country, leave
alone moving to Europe
➔ poverty and … deprives people of mobility options
What really drives migration?
Destination countries labour demand, economy doing well, local people take high skilled
jobs, aging population, there’s a NEED for people in ‘low-skilled’ job, people are needed to
work those jobs, there’s often active recruitment, also illegal jobs
If economy is doing well then more migrants are coming
There is a fundamental discrepancy between
1. Growing labour demand in destination countries
2. The political call for stop of migration
Evidence:
Lecture 2: Why do people migrate?
Migration categories
● analytical categories
○ used in migration studies
○ internal/international; temporary/permanent; origin/destination; motives;
forced/voluntary (blurred); illegal, undocumented vs ‘regular’
3
, Migration & Citizenship
○ categories of entry:
■ labour migrant, investment (buying visa), students, refugees and
asylum seekers, family members, ethnic/religion ties, undocumented
migrants, tourists
■ unauthorized immigrants: ⅕ non-EU citizen 3.9 to 4.8 million
● mostly tourist visa overstaying
■ more categories of entry exist e.g. Diversity Program in US
■ “Those who seek to immigrate to the United States from countries with
relatively low levels of immigration may be eligible to seek immigration
under the Diversity Immigrant Visa Program”
■ categories overlap
■ they may lead to (Permanent) Residence permit or Citizenship (Week
4)
● administrative categories
○ how we register migrants in official records
○ e.g. Statistic Netherlands till 2021 used Western (incl. Japan and Indonesia
because of diaspora of Dutch people there) and Non-Western category
○ categories are very political
● discursive
○ used in the media, politicians
Theories of migration
● Functionalist theory - economic way of thinking, demand and supply for labour
○ neoclassical approach
■ function of the discrepancy of the economic opportunities available at
the destination and the lack of it at the place of residence
■ thus wage differentials, unemployment levels etc. determine
migration
○ critique:
4
Lecture 1: Origin countries
➔ Introduction to international migration
➔ Myths about migration, false perception, misunderstanding
◆ migration as a “problem” to be solved
◆ scientifically it’s not a problem, it has nuance
◆ different perspective: normal process, people has always migrated
◆ lack of knowledge what causes migration on the first place
➔ Need for looking at other side of migration: origin countries
➔ Myths:
1. We live in times of unprecedented mass migration
● true: since 1960s around 3% of people are migrants
● refugees: goes up and down but not increasing
● most refugees don’t come to “the West” but stays in surrounding
countries
◆ What about illegal migration? See arrivals: 2-5% total of yearly immigration
◆ Non-migrants: 83,3%; internal migrants: 13,1% (mostly people moving from
rural to urban areas); international migrants: 3,3%; refugees: 0,3%
◆ There’s no massive movement! Neither exodus, nor invasion!
➔ BUT what has changed?
➔ Before: Europeans always moved out of Europe, illegally occupied other countries,
migrated from continent
➔ Change: after WWII Europe become a destination for migrants, labour shortages,
migrants from South and Eastern Europe, inviting guest workers from outside
Europe
➔ Migration propaganda: played a big role in Brexit
➔ Political fabrication of migration threats
2. Immigration restrictions reduce migration: Borders and fences
◆ Immigration restriction can lead to more (permanent) migration
◆ more difficult you make it to come in then less migrants want to go back
◆ Why do borders generally not stop migration?
◆ Migration is a social process, people flow back and forth
◆ Borders: people will do everything to cross the border, desire to go back goes
much lower because people are afraid to not be able to enter again
1
, Migration & Citizenship
◆ E.g. in US the number of permanent Latino migrants increased since building
of the wall in last 30 years
◆ How the Dutch government stimulated unwanted migration from Suriname?
Before independence the Surinamese held Dutch passports and could freely
come, and then Dutch government pushed for their independence (so they
would stop coming) so Surinamese massively came to NL to pick their
passports and then travel freely
◆ African migration: less people has appetite to go back after introducing more
restrictions
◆ How border controls backfired Moroccans migration to OECD countries
➔ The migration paradox: The three “Guianas”
◆ French Guiana people aren’t fixated with migration cuz they can freely
moved to France if they want to
3. Development in poor countries will reduce migration
➔ reinforces the idea that migration is a misery, migrants are desperate to move out,
migrants are victims
➔ nonsensical, no agency: migration as a push out of misery towards treasure traps of
the west, push/pull false logic
➔ African migration: mostly within continent, neighboring countries, people don’t
want to move far away
➔ The migration paradox: growing wealth, growing emigration?
◆ Morocco: Migration increased despite increase of GDP per capita
➔ Relation between migration and human/economic development
➔ When the country develops from low to middle the emigration increases, migration
rises as poor countries get richer
➔ How is that possible?
◆ Migration is expensive! Migration is investment (in better future of families),
a decision, requires resources
◆ Skills and education makes it easier to migrate and get a job abroad, the
higher you get educated the more far away you move, it’s easier to find a job
with low skilled work,
◆ Development of infrastructure, development of region makes there are less
people needed to work e.g. in farming, internet changes aspirations,
perception of good life
◆ Macro-structural:
◆ Micro-agentic / behavioral: aspirations-capabilities model
2
, Migration & Citizenship
◆ Migration is part of development, you won’t stop migration with more aid for
development
➔ Migration as a resource and investment into a better future rather than a last resort or
a ‘desperate flight”
➔ Remittances - a vital course of ‘bottom up’ development aid
➔ Migration as a vehicle for emancipation in rural Ethiopia: to the Gulf and back,
migration as life-changing
➔ India: from “brain drain” to “brain gain”
4. Climate change will lead to mass migration
➔ Simplistic assumptions, bad methodologies, lack of real evidence
➔ Climate migration is very unlikely to cause a mass international migration
➔ Migration goes down with natural disasters, natural disasters make it more difficult
to afford migration to Europe
➔ Natural disasters usually affects people who were and are not able to move anyway,
people who are already disadvantaged, people who can’t afford and don’t want to
move far away, the poorest of the poorest can’t make it to leave the country, leave
alone moving to Europe
➔ poverty and … deprives people of mobility options
What really drives migration?
Destination countries labour demand, economy doing well, local people take high skilled
jobs, aging population, there’s a NEED for people in ‘low-skilled’ job, people are needed to
work those jobs, there’s often active recruitment, also illegal jobs
If economy is doing well then more migrants are coming
There is a fundamental discrepancy between
1. Growing labour demand in destination countries
2. The political call for stop of migration
Evidence:
Lecture 2: Why do people migrate?
Migration categories
● analytical categories
○ used in migration studies
○ internal/international; temporary/permanent; origin/destination; motives;
forced/voluntary (blurred); illegal, undocumented vs ‘regular’
3
, Migration & Citizenship
○ categories of entry:
■ labour migrant, investment (buying visa), students, refugees and
asylum seekers, family members, ethnic/religion ties, undocumented
migrants, tourists
■ unauthorized immigrants: ⅕ non-EU citizen 3.9 to 4.8 million
● mostly tourist visa overstaying
■ more categories of entry exist e.g. Diversity Program in US
■ “Those who seek to immigrate to the United States from countries with
relatively low levels of immigration may be eligible to seek immigration
under the Diversity Immigrant Visa Program”
■ categories overlap
■ they may lead to (Permanent) Residence permit or Citizenship (Week
4)
● administrative categories
○ how we register migrants in official records
○ e.g. Statistic Netherlands till 2021 used Western (incl. Japan and Indonesia
because of diaspora of Dutch people there) and Non-Western category
○ categories are very political
● discursive
○ used in the media, politicians
Theories of migration
● Functionalist theory - economic way of thinking, demand and supply for labour
○ neoclassical approach
■ function of the discrepancy of the economic opportunities available at
the destination and the lack of it at the place of residence
■ thus wage differentials, unemployment levels etc. determine
migration
○ critique:
4
