Migration, Identity and Sovereignty

A level Edexcel- Topic 8b

Globalisation has caused extremely significant changes in the global economic system, changing the pattern of demand for labour; this has encouraged both rural-urban migration within countries ( China) and international migration between countries ( EU-Schengen)

What is globalisation?

What has globalisation led to?

• Globalisation is a process enabling financial and investment markets to operate internationally, largely as a result of deregulation and improved communications

• The growing economic interdependence of countries worldwide through increasing volume and variety of cross-border transactions in goods and services, freer international capital flows and more widespread diffusion of technology.

• Globalisation has led to an increase in internal and international migration

• The world is becoming increasingly interconnected due to increased trade and cultural exchange. Interdependence is increasing due to the sharing and movement of services, goods and people.

  For the Western world- rapid + profound increase in wealth since ww2, Improved quality of life, impacts popular culture.

• Migrants - face the greatest number of challenges from borders and laws. Most governments accept trade flows but resist people unless they need them. QUATAR ENCOURAGES INDIAN CONSTRUCTION WORKERS. Despite obstacles people still migrate and every year the record increases, so that in 2013 THE COMBINED NUMBER OF ECONOMIC MIGRANTS AND REFUGEES WORLWIDE REACHED ALMOST ¼ OF A BILLION. Lots of remittances are sent back so both economies get better. Diversity of cultures also increases.

What is an SEZ?

• A special economic zone is an industrial area, often near a coastline, where favourable conditions are created to attract foreign TNCs and FDI- including low tax rates, exemption from tariffs and export duties, huge pools of cheap labour, and lower environmental standards.

  They act as a window to the outside world in terms of commerce, trade and globalisation- that wealth will radiate out to the rest of the country.

What is the spatial division of labour?

The distribution of different stages of economic activity across space, leading to the specialisation of work within particular places at a range of scales

What is a migrant?

People who move from one location (a source area) to a new location (a host/destination area) permanently.

How has globalisation changed the global economic system since 1980?

What is the global shift?

Global shift - Outsourcing of manufacturing jobs by the developed world's TNCs to lower cost locations (such as China).

The movement of jobs from developed countries (such as the Uk and USA) to new locations in emerging economies such as China and Mexico.

The global shift has created new locations of economic growth and job creation and job losses elsewhere. Economic changes have driven migration changes as demand for labour has changed.
Impact on migration - Mass internal rural-urban migration from the countryside to China's cities

Between 3–4% of the global population live outside their country of birth but this proportion varies greatly between countries because of different policies relating to international migration and levels of engagement with the global economy ( Singapore or Japan or Australia).

• As of 2014, 230 million people lived in a country that wasn’t their place of birth (approx. 3-4% of the global population). This is due to the advancement of transport networks to allow people to travel easily to other countries to live, work and visit. Also, a rise in global trading has encouraged a recent rise in international migrants, the highest since the collapse of empires. Most international migration is regionalised, like Mexicans to America or Poland to Germany.

• Uneven economic growth may be linked originally to a natural advantage over other countries, such as a coastline or raw materials. Initial imbalances have been exaggerated over time due to the outflow of migrants, resources and investment.

The pattern of international migration is changing and will continue to change because environmental, economic and political events affect both the source areas of many migrants and their destinations; this results in flows of economic migrants, refugees and asylum seekers. (1)

Most migrants move for work or to re-join family members; there are other significant causes, including displacement of refugees due to conflict and poverty in their regions of origin ( migrants crossing the Mediterranean). (2)

see A3 sheet

What are some social causes of migration?

• Family – follow workers abroad

• Extended family then move – diaspora growth- especially with economic migrants

• Post-colonial migration

• International students- within recent years, there has been a large increase in the volume of young people migrating to study elsewhere

What are some environmental causes of migration?

• People specifically relocating due to tectonic disasters, natural events or Climate Change impacts

What are some political causes of migration?

• Conflict, war, persecution- Refugees, asylum seekers

• International displacement of millions in 2015

• Also displaced internally

• E.g. 70,000 Rohingya Muslims fled persecution in Buddhist-majority Rakhine state in Myanmar

• Many became stranded on smugglers’ boats

What are some economic causes of migration?

• Generally the poorest don’t migrate

• Up to £5000  to move from Africa to Europe

• Poorest don’t have access to this capital

• Voluntary economic migration- people moving to improve their wealth and quality of life.

Causes for Mediterranean migration?

• Arab Spring

• Outbreak of Libya’s civil war

• Syrian crisis

• Economic change

Syria Case Study

2011 - Outbreak of the Syrian civil war. Inspired by the "Arab Spring" uprisings, confrontation between the government and opposition soon develops into a multi-sided fight involving Islamists and rebels that draws in world powers. Some 600,000 people are estimated to have died.

2024 - President Asad is toppled after a swift rebel offensive led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) captures the capital Damascus.

is it stable enough for migrants to return

Theories of migration

Lee’s model of migration

Obstacles of migration:

•physical barriers

•Immigration laws/ policies

•Lack of capital

•Travel costs

•Illiteracy/ education

•Military service

•Language

•Family pressures

•Role of gender? (e.g. Qatar’s pop pyramid)

•Age (which sector of a population is most likely to migrate and why?)

which countries are targeted?

• Germany

• Sweden

• Belgium

• UK

Define diaspora growth

a dispersed group of people with shared cultural background who have spread internationally from their homeland

Benefits of Mediterranean migration

• Immigrants give Italy 500 million euros a year in taxes more than they take in services

• migrants are reviving ghost towns in Italy- young residents emigrated for urban areas paved with gold but young migrant populations fill their vocational and livelihood gaps and therefore bolster economic growth

Problems of Mediterranean migration

• Smugglers

• Human trafficking

• unregulated sea crossings- only check when deaths and drowning has occured

Mediterranean Migration crisis in numbers

By the end of 2015, an unprecedented number of migrants had arrived to the EU – 1,015,078 – having taken perilous journeys across the Mediterranean Sea to Europe in search of safety. The news dominated European political debate and media. More than 800,000 people were trafficked by sea from Turkey to Greece. There were 4,000 recorded deaths as people drowned in overloaded and unseaworthy boats.

Why the Mediterranean?

gateway between two continents

route towards europe

many developed countries

• What range of factors informed migrants' decisions to leave their homes?

• How were these journeys experienced by migrants - what routes were taken before arriving into Europe?

• Why did migrants move on from countries to which they initially travelled?

• What sorts of actors are involved in smuggling?

• What is the difference between the categories of migrant and refugees and are these categorisations helpful?

• How did international governments co-operate to support migrants and refugees?

Source destinations for asylum seekers reaching Italy and Greece by boat 2009-2015

To what extent is globalisation responsible for Mediterranean migration?

Case study: Migration from Bangladesh due to climate change

Case study: Poland to the UK

Case study: Migration from Myanmar (the rohingya crisis)

Economic theory migration

• Migrant labour mostly focused on movement to core regions

• Economic theory views humans as an economic resource

• Business needs humans to make use of – need to be able to move to where work is available (optimisation of the UK)

• Migration can be an effective tool to make sure economic output is optimised (hence why free movement can be a good thing!)

• However, this can increase spatial disparities

• There are arguments that backwash effects are balanced by spread effects (trickle down) in the remittances that are sent away from the core

backwash effects- lots of focus on the core, flows of people, investment and resources directed from peripheral to core regions. This is responsible for the polarisation of regional prosperity between regions within a country.

Rationale for and against migration

Economic theory suggests that economic efficiency is maximised when goods (free trade), capital (deregulated financial markets) and labour (open-borders) can move freely across international borders but this poses serious challenges for national identity and sovereignty.

Friedman’s backwash model - London offices moving outwards to secondary cores- people have to commute

The movement of labour is unrestricted within many nation states to ensure efficient allocation of resources ( regional movements in the UK) and the same logic applies for some global regions (EU) but does not yet apply at a global level.

Refugee crisis

Core- periphery model

Greater source east as core- mainly the target for migration. Periphery is characterised by low household income, lower employment rates, low levels of inward investment (therefore would be expected that rates of migration to London will be significantly greater than from core to periphery).

Migration changes the cultural and ethnic composition of nation states but the integration of migrants varies both between nations and within them.

Define identity and Sovereignty

Identity: a sense of a nation as a cohesive whole, as represented by distinctive traditions, culture, and language.

Sovereignty: The ability of a place and its people to self govern without any outside interference

National Identity

British Identity- notes from a video

• stiff upper lip

• diversity, culture, fish and chips

• progress

• tradition

• patriotic

• collective identity of the UK

• unity

• freedom?

How much of this is true?

Misinformation on offshoring and outsourcing removing jobs from locals who believe that is the fault of migrants.

Donald Trumps- wall

social and national security

Does migration (free movement) pose challenges for national identity and sovereignty?

Push factors for internal migration from Coastal North to South in the UK

• deindustrialisation

• lack of jobs

Pull factors for internal migration from London to south-east in the Uk

• better job opps

• tertiary, quaternary and quinary job market rather than agriculture or manufacturing

Is the North-south divide being challenged?

Migration causes political tensions because of differences in perceptions of the social, economic, cultural and demographic impacts ( Labour flows across the Mexico-US border and between EU states). (3)

There are variations in the ability of people to migrate across national borders according to levels of skill and income; and opportunities, including the presence or absence of controls and international borders.

National sovereign states vary greatly in their ethnic, cultural and linguistic unity ( Iceland compared to Singapore); this results from their history of population growth, their degree of isolation and the role of migration. (4)

Many national borders are a consequence of physical geography and historical development; other borders are a result of colonial history and might not take account of different ethnic or religious groups ( Iraq or Rwanda), which can lead to problems of sovereignty and legitimacy.

There are many contested borders ( Ukraine/Russia) and not all nation states are universally recognised as such ( Taiwan) which can lead to both potential conflict and population movements.

19th-century nationalism was important in the development of empires and a source of conflict in Europe and beyond as other nations became part of larger empires ( British Raj in India).

Since 1945, many new nation states have emerged as European empires disintegrated ( 1960s ‘wind of change’ in Africa); the transition to independence frequently involved conflicts that were costly environmentally, economically and in human terms ( Viet-Nam or Sudan).

Patterns of migration between former colonies and the imperial core country are still evident and important in changing the ethnic composition and cultural heterogeneity of those countries. (5)

Globalisation has encouraged the growth of states that have low-tax regimes which provide havens for the profits for TNCs and homes for wealthy expatriates

Most governments and IGOs have accepted the emergence of tax-havens although many NGOs have raised objections.

Growing global inequalities have been recognised as a major threat to the sustainability of the global economic system and some governments have promoted alternative models ( Bolivia or Ecuador). (6)

Leaders from several South American, African & Asian countries have repeatedly criticised the way some new and some old nations gain from trade disproportionately.

The United Nations was the first post-war IGO to be established and has grown in importance; its role in global governance is affected by the different geopolitical visons of members of the Security Council and its multiple functions in managing global environmental, socio-economic and political problems.

Interventions by the UN through the use of economic sanctions and direct military intervention have been made in defence of human rights but have a mixed record of success. ( Trade Embargo Iran or UN forces in Congo).

Some member states (US, UK) have operated independently of the UN in intervening in countries labelled as ‘fragile states’ or to conduct a ‘war on terror’ with profound impacts on geopolitical relations and global stability.

The IMF, WB and WTO were established by the WWII allied nations and have been important in maintaining the dominance of ‘western’ capitalism, global economic management and trade policy (free trade).

Global borrowing rules and trade policies have been especially effective in delivering growth to the developed world, but the impact of Structural Adjustment and HIPC policies on the developing world’s economies and economic sovereignty is disputed ( Jamaica’s structural adjustment programme).

Membership of global trade and financial IGOs is almost universal, as a result of the dominance of these organisations, but regional groupings have emerged in the form of trading blocs ( NAFTA/SEATO) and in some cases (EU) there has been a movement to closer political unity

Global environmental issues including issues concerning the quality of the atmosphere and biosphere ( Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer) and biosphere ( Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora CITES). (7)

IGOs have been involved in developing laws for managing oceans ( UN Convention on the Law of the Sea) and international rivers ( Helsinki Water Convention rules) as well as monitoring the state of the environment ( Millennium Ecosystem Assessment).

IGO management also includes responsibility for Antarctica as a continent of peace and science ( Antarctic Treaty System).

Nationalism remains a powerful force; it is reinforced through education, sport and by political parties stressing loyalty to both the institutions and the ideals of nation states.

Identity and loyalty has historically been tied to distinctive legal systems, methods of governance, national ‘character’ or even a landscape ( The English Countryside).

Most countries are multi-national with many contrasting ethnic groups; questions of national identity and loyalties are therefore complex, especially in an era of globalisation.

Many UK-based companies are foreign owned ( EDF or Jaguar Land Rover (JLR)), making ‘Made in Britain’ an increasingly complex idea. (8)

‘Westernisation’ is often dominated by US cultural values through the operation of large corporations in both retailing and entertainment; this, in turn, promotes a distinctive view of the benefits the dominant capitalist model.

Ownership of property, land and businesses in countries is increasingly non-national ( Qatari and Russian property in London and US or Indian or Chinese ownership of TNCs), which impacts on national identity. (9)

There are strong nationalist movements seeking to create independent, smaller states whilst remaining within larger trading groups ( Catalonia or Scotland in the EU).

There are significant political tensions in the BRIC and other emerging nations resulting from the uneven pattern of the costs and benefits of globalisation.

The role of the state is variable and national identity is not always strong, especially in ‘fragile states’ where there are stark differences between the politically and economically powerful elite, foreign investment groups and the wider population ( Somalia). (10)