Regulating the Poor through Internal Borders: The EU in Historical and International Perspectives

Tensions surrounding internal migrants’ access to welfare and the associated politicisations about who should shoulder the ‘fiscal burden’ are not unique to the European Union (EU). Based on a Most Different Systems Design and following an institutionalist approach, this article analyses the developments associated with freedom of movement and access to poor relief/social assistance in four economically and politically diverse jurisdictions. It also considers the implications of these developments for the EU. The four cases analysed are industrialising England, contemporary China, Germany, and the United States. Although economic integration was a necessary, it was not a sufficient condition for the abolishment of residence requirements for internal migrants in all four jurisdictions. Moreover, it took political power, various coalitions, or the leadership of actors to overcome the barriers and hurdles on the path to social citizenship in the wider territorial jurisdictions. Solidarity as a precondition did not play a significant role.

Ethnic Identity, Discrimination and the Shaping of Remittance Culture in Ghana

This article examines birth-based structures and endogenous practices in the migration patterns of two ethnic groups in southern Ghana. The sampled ethnic groups for this study are the Akuapems from the Akan ethnic group located in the Akuapem North district and the Ada/Dangme’s from the Ga-Adangme ethnic group located in the Shai-Osudoku District and the Ningo-Prampram District (formally known as Dangme West District). The article discusses how ethnic identity influences remittance patterns and the utilization of sampled migrants’ home districts. Data from a questionnaire survey, interviews, and focus group meetings informed the study. The study results indicate a strong relationship between patterns, practices, and utilization of remittances and the respective norms and social values embedded within the migrants’ ethnic identity. The research also shows that migrants from ethnic groups with strong internal cohesion and less assimilation remit more than those from more ethnically heterogeneous groups. The study found that migrants from matrilineal ethnicity remit more than those of the patrilineal group. Ethnic values also shape the type of investments that internal migrants and their families may pursue. The research contributes to the debate on agency and endogenous development within birth-based structured societies. It also advances the discourse on birth-based identities, marginalization, and informal poverty reductions mechanisms and strategies.

Internal Migration and the Covid-19 Pandemic in India

This chapter looks at the effect of the Covid-19 pandemic on internal migrants in India. According to the 2011 Census, there are over 450 million internal migrants, of which a massive 54 million are inter-state migrants. A large number of these migrants consist of labourers who comprise a huge percentage of the informal sector workforce, both in the rural and urban areas of India, and are vital to the country’s economy. These workers are also some of the most vulnerable, with inadequacies in terms of working conditions and coverage of social safety nets, and are also largely absent from India’s policy discourses. This chapter highlights the size and extent of internal migration as well as its distribution across different states in India. It shows how the current crisis and lockdowns have affected their lives and livelihoods. It particularly looks at the responses of central and various state governments – at destinations and origins – to ensure migrants’ wellbeing. It also analyses the socioeconomic impact of the migrant exodus from major destinations and looks at solutions to enable and ensure that migration patterns in the future are sustainable, and more importantly, ensure migrants’ rights and dignity.

The Impact of Migration Processes on Development

In recent years, international migration has been growing rapidly and has reached over 272 million people or 3.5% of the world's population, and 740 million people are considered internal migrants (IOM, 2020). Migration has become a defining feature of the modern global economy and the main factors behind its expansion are the processes of globalization itself, technical progress, the new economic order, etc. Since the early 1970s, governments in some countries have seen international migration as a major tool for economic development. Migration, especially labor migration, has become a defining element of economic development for the Republic of Moldova as well. Labor migration has become an important factor in combating poverty and increasing the welfare of the population of the Republic of Moldova. Moldova's economic growth over the last 20 years is due to remittances from migrant workers. There is a very close relationship between migration and Moldova's development prospects. The analysis of the impact of migration processes on the development perspectives of the Republic of Moldova, as well as the role of public authorities in the process of integrating migration into development strategies is the subject of this article.

‘Who contributes more?’ How Ukrainian media construed migrants’ life strategies vs. what the Ukrainian public wanted to know

Having chosen the topic of active contribution to social life, one of the most important aspects facilitating deeper social integration, we present the results of a three-staged sociological discourse analysis of media messages related to migrants and migration. In our study, we consistently used a number of methods — a quantitative and qualitative content analysis, semantic analysis, discourse positions’ analysis, critical discourse analysis, and an in-depth analysis of focus group interviews. The combination of them all helped us reveal specific details of media image constructing as well as requests for information on migrants’ life strategies. We took into account media discourse in fifteen top Ukrainian media over the span of time between 2015 and 2018, focusing on the differences between media discursive strategies based on the form of ownership (state/private), audiovisual type (printed/TV/Internet) and the degree of trustworthiness/popularity of the media among Ukrainians, the actors that had the advantage of being quoted in the media and the groups of migrants being displayed to practice certain active or passive life strategies. The messages with implicit meanings regarding the active migrants’ life strategy were less present in the state-controlled top media and the most trusted/popular top media. Similarly, the messages with implicit meanings regarding both the active and passive migrants’ life strategies featured less frequently in the top printed media. In the context of understanding ‘goodness’ as equivalent to ‘activity’, we found that in the top Ukrainian media there were two ‘good’ categories of migrants: first, internal migrants in Ukraine and, second, migrants from Ukraine (Ukrainian emigrants). However, it turned out that the first place regarding the presence of implications about ‘passivity’ (i.e., ‘badness’) went again to internal migrants in Ukraine. The opinions held by Ukrainians about what the media should have shown were clearly in favor of what migrants were offered by their destination society (thus, in favor of ‘passive’ media image), and all that the Ukrainians would like to see and hear included both favorable and unfavorable objective social life conditions.

Crime in the Republic of Kazakhstan: Socio-Economic, Sociocultural and Migration Factors

The article discusses the problematic issues of preventing crimes committed by both international and internal migrants in the Republic of Kazakhstan, analyzes the causes and conditions that contribute to the commission of crimes by migrants, draws conclusions and provides recommendations for the development of new ways and means of preventing crime of migrants. The authors analyze the official statistics of migrant crime over the past three years (2017–2019) through the Information Service of the Committee on Legal Statistics and Special Accounts of the General Prosecutor’s Office of the Republic of Kazakhstan and pointed out the need for more detailed regulation of some quantitative and qualitative indicators of statistical information. It is concluded that it is necessary to differentiate statistics on criminal offenses committed by migrants. The authors substantiate the important role of improving the moral and legal culture of the population by involving the media and non-governmental organizations as a measure to prevent the crime of migrants. In order to reduce the crime rate of migrants, measures are needed that create favorable socio-economic conditions and a positive moral climate in society. Among the criminologically significant factors in the crime of migrants, the presence of negative phenomena, such as the existence of corruption in government bodies, is indicated. The authors propose to approve the temporary registration of migrants, which would be necessary when receiving various services and social assistance, and not an obligation, in case of violation of which legal liability arises.

Return Migration: The Second Major Outbreak due to COVID-19 in India

COVID-19 pandemic made a severe impact on the developing countries. According to the “World Economic Situation and Prospects” report by the United Nations, as of mid-2021, this global crisis has clearly worsened poverty and within-country inequality, and it is expected that it will leave long-lasting scars on labor markets while reversing progress on poverty and income inequality in many economies. The context in India, in this sense, is complex. The article corresponds to the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on internal migration. The rapid spread of the pandemic shook nations across the world, bringing about a broad lockdown that cinched down on versatility, business exercises, and social communications. In India, the pandemic encouraged an extreme emergency of portability, with transient workers in many significant urban areas looking to get back to the places where they were initially from. Their frantic attempts to get back using any and all means accessible delivered the lockdown incapable in a few regions, provoking conflicts with authorities, last-minute approaches, alleviation, and, in the end, unplanned transport measures. This paper expects to reveal insight into the weakness of India's internal migrants as far as their gender, mobility, and emotional wellbeing. As COVID-19 was India’s first significant outbreak in 2020, the “reverse migration” proves to be the second major outbreak.

The interaction of migration range, regional economic development level on social capital and public health services of internal migrants: evidence from the China Migrant Dynamic Survey in 2017

Background: Studies have confirmed that migration range (MR), regional economic development level (REDL) and social capital have impacts on the internal migrants' (IMs') accessibility of National Essential Public Health Services (NEPHS), but no research has explored the interaction of the four variables. Method: A cross-sectional sample of 115412 IMs from the China Migrant Dynamic Survey in 2017 was selected. The sampling method was layered, multi-stage, and probability proportional to size. Logistic regression was conducted by SPSS22.0, sex, residence duration, community type, and education as the control variables, REDL and MR as the moderating variables, social capital as independent variable and awareness of NEPHS and registration of health records (RHR) as the dependent variables. Results: In high income provinces (HIPs), the intra-provincial IMs' CSC, civic participation, social participation, NEPHS awareness and RHR were 4.73±1.736, 49.3%, 55.3%, 61.1%, and 31.9%, and the inter-provincial IMs' levels were 4.01±1.713, 40.5%, 47.2%, 54.6%, and 26.8%; In low-and middle- income provinces (LMIPs), the intra-provincial and inter-provincial IMs' levels were 5.13±1.767, 46.1%, 48.1%, 65.6%, 35.5%, and 5.02±1.775, 41.5%, 41.5%, 62.06%, 34.1%, respectively. In the complete regression model, the interaction of MR, REDL and CSC was not significant, while the interaction of MR, REDL and SSC was significant. In the group regression model, the ORs of CSC, civic participation, and social participation were significantly greater than 1 both in HIPs and LMIPs. However, the interaction of MR and SSC was significant in HIPs but not significant in LMIPs. Conclusions: The social capital and NEPHS utilization of inter-provincial IMs was significantly lower than that of intra-provincial IMs, and these gaps were more prominent in HIPs. Social capital had a positive effect on IMs' NEPHS utilization, and this effect was significantly moderated by MR and REDL. The next focus of the equalization of public services should be the primary health resources supply and the IMs' social capital construction of HIPs.