Edexcel Geography A-Level: Migration, Identity and Sovereignty. Case studies from Migration topic of Edexcel A-Level GeographyDesigned for the exam series but can be used for any year :)- (Sourced from Hodder Education Edexcel Textbook). 2

Edexcel Geography A-Level: Migration, Identity and Sovereignty. Case studies from Migration topic of Edexcel A-Level GeographyDesigned for the exam series but can be used for any year :)- (Sourced from Hodder Education Edexcel Textbook). 2023 Summary Update Ethnic conflict and contested borders in Iraq and Syria - ANS-▫️Middle East - unhappy fit between state borders and regions ethnic map. ▫️Root cause of ongoing conflict is Sykes-picot line. Drawn by Great Britain and France in 1916. ▫️Large Kurdish populations of 25million distributed between 4 states, turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria. ▫️Large Sunni and Shia Muslim population also divided. ▫️Much of 21st century, region been mired with conflict and instability. ▫️Terrorist organisations (Daesh and al-Qaeda) have shown little respect for borders or human rights. ▫️Daesh took advantage of power vacuums in Iraq. ▫️Syria also entered a civil war. ▫️Daesh wages jihad against other religions, annihilating minority communities such as Christian Assyrians, Kurds, Shabaks, Turkmens and Yazidis. IN ORDER TO STOP THIS ▫️Daesh must be contained and defeated, political and cultural rehabilitation needs to take place and the hope that geopolitical stability returns is needed. Rural-urban Migration within China - ANS-▫️China, example of how global systems have encouraged rural-urban migration. ▫️Mass migration, good news for China's economy. 1978, 20% of China's population lived in cities, today figure is 55%. ▫️Relocation of 400 million rural people gave many Chinese cities a 'site factor' certain to attract FDI. ▫️Chinese governments authorisation of free movement can be viewed as a rational economic decision allowing china to benefit from globalisation. ▫️'Migrant miracle' that followed underpinned 30 years of rapid economic growth. Rural-urban Migration in Spain - ANS-▫️Core-periphery growth in Spain has accelerated to such extent that Celtiberian Highlands, rural region of Madrid, has been abandoned. ▫️Decades of depopulation, 8 people per square kilometre. ▫️Provinces such as Terual and Sofia have 600 villages with fewer than 100 people and an average age of 57. ▫️High rural unemployment has meant young people continue to seek new opportunities in Madrid and Barcelona. ▫️Spains low birth rate means rural recovery is unlikely. ▫️When local schools shut, threshold or tipping point is often reached, from which there is no return. International Migration inside the EU Schengen Area - ANS-▫️Process of coreperiphery polarisation is repeated at larger spatial scales. ▫️Within EU, free movement of labour has helped international core-periphery pattern develop. ▫️EU core region encompasses southern England, north France, Belgium and much of western Germany. ▫️Includes cities such as London, Paris, Brussels and Berlin. ▫️Labour migration flows from eastern and Southern Europe are overwhelmingly directed towards these places. ▫️Most national border controls in EU removed in 1995 when Schengen Agreement implemented. Enables easier movement of people and goods within EU, means that passports do not usually need to be shown at borders, UK did not sign, preferring to keep its border controls. ▫️Eastern Europe nations implemented agreement in . Schengen brings benefits as labour can move where demanded, but also costs - once someone is in one EU country, they can move to others. ▫️In recent years, most EU states have witnessed the growth of populace movements opposed to this arrangement. ▫️Fears of terrorism and uncontrolled refugee movements have led some people to question the wisdom of free movement. Migration Policies in Singapore, Japan and Australia - ANS-▫️Singapore (liberal migration) - rated as an emerging economy. Now a developed nation, city-state is unusual in many respects. 5 million people, great ethnic diversity due to past as British colonial port and subsequent transformation into worlds fourth largest financial centre. Many global businesses/institutions have located their Asia-pacific head offices in Singapore, including credit suites and international baccalaureate. Many foreign workers/families have relocated there, AAR, Singapore has many international schools. ▫️Japan (strict migration) - less than 2% of the Japanese population is foreign or foreign born. Despite growing status of japan being global hub from 1960s onwards, migration rules make it tough for newcomers to settle permanently. Nationality law makes acquisition of Japanese citizenship by resident foreigners a goal. Japan faces challenge of ageing population. There will be three workers per two retirees by 2060, many people think that japans government will need to loosen grip on immigration. ▫️Australia (stricter migration) - while Singapore has high percentage of foreign workers, Australia is lower due to recent history of restrictive migration policies. Country currently operates a points system for economic migrants called migration programme. 2013, only 190,000 economic migrants were granted access to Australia. The top five countries with source where India, china, the UK, the Philippines and Pakistan. Until 1973, Australia's government selected migrants largely on racial and ethnic bias, this was sometimes called the white Australia policy. Mediterranean Migration - ANS-Illegal migration to Europe first began to grow noticeably in 2006. Rising numbers of migrants from North Africa and Middle East have attempted to cross the Mediterranean in unsafe fishing boats, often piloted by traffickers. By 2016, estimated 1 million people attempted the crossing. Mediterranean migrants are diverse group of people, include both economic migrants and refugees of varying faiths and ethnicities. Many travel large distances to reach shores of Mediterranean. Sending regions included Eritrea, Ethiopia, and war-torn Syria. There are issues with such migration however: ▫️Deaths at sea: 700 people died off Italian coast near Lampedusa april 2014. By end of same year, further 3700 people died due to similar circumstances, further 160,000 people rescued. ▫️Political reaction: most Mediterranean migrants arrive in Greece or Italy where, under EU rules, their claims must be proceeded. Nether Greek nor Italian government wants large numbers of migrants to settle there permanently, however. ▫️Ethical debate: emotive issue divides peoples views. Suicide bomber of Paris 2015 attacks later revealed as a Syrian refugee who travelled to France via Greece. Since then, political debate has intensified over whether border passport checks should be reinstated within EU as part of emergency situation. Free movement at the national scale: internal migration within the UK - ANS-UK's northsouth population drift accelerated during 1980s. The deindustrialisation of northern cities such as Liverpool and Sheffield triggered exodus of many young people towards UK's economic core of London and south east. Since then, trend has continued. Londons population reached record high of 8.7 million in 2016. House prices have tripled in value since 1995 as a result of high demand. Since 1945, gap between house prices in northern and southern England has grown and lessened several times. Rising costs of doing business in capital have triggered outward-migration of people and businesses. Regenerated post industrial cities including Cardiff and Bristol offer attractive alternative to London; the BBC relocated to Manchester in 2011. However, Londons global hub status means the UK's core-periphery imbalance is likely to persist. Free movement at the international scale: migration from Poland to other EU states - ANS-Polands government has encouraged population to work overseas and make most of EU membership. However, Poland has lost population since 1960s every year, with trend accelerating since 2004. Low birth rate and ageing population mean Poland's population is shrinking. Few people migrate to Poland, it has the lowest foreign-born population percentage of any EU state. While remittances help compensate for labour loss and brain drain in short term, there is no guarantee that remittances will continue to be send in long term. Children of Polish migrants born in UK could feel less connected to Poland and may send less money in the future. By 2050, there may be only 1.3 working people for each child or elderly dependant in Poland compared with 1.75 today. Continued emigration may become economically and socially unsustainable. Migration across the Mexico-US border - ANS-For USA today, issue of illegal migration across Mexican border is major policy issue that divides public and politicians alike. While in office, president Obama called for work permits to be issued to may of the estimated 8 million unauthorised workers living in the USA. In contrast, some of his opponents demanded a wall be built along the border to stop illegal migrants heading in large numbers. Continues...