Saturday, November 26, 2016

Migration 101 Episode 8

Episode 8: How effective are borders in keeping people out? (Not very. Nations secure borders to keep people out, but often the effect is the opposite; people who did not intend to settle permanently opt to stay on the "safe" side of the border and then try to bring their families in as well. For example, before the 1991 Schengen agreement, Moroccan workers traveled back and forth easily between Spanish jobs and Moroccan homes/families. Since 1991, a million Moroccan migrants and families have settled in Spain. The new border security has made traveling back and forth too expensive/risky, so people decide against their own will to settle permanently.

Recommended Reading
Hein’s blog post on the inability of European governments to act together to regulate a shared border system, and another post where Hein describes the effect of visas, linking to original research.
A key part of Europe’s border is its coast guard. Watch this short documentary on the Italian effort to save the lives of those making the crossing.
A journalistic investigation into the human and financial cost of 15 years of “Fortress Europe”.
A report on the costs of Europe’s border industry from the UK’s Overseas Development Institute, arguing that Europe must shift from an emphasis on deterring migration towards a pragmatic approach to manage it better.
What do we know about circular migration? A report from the Migration Policy Institute.

Check out this episode from our other course, Six Impossible Ideas (after Brexit), where Oxford anthropologist Ruben Andersson tells us his view on the border control industry and offers picks for further reading.

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]

<< Home