Mobility of Labour in High Mountains and the Socio-Economic Integration of Peripheral Areas

Abstract

This paper discusses the mobility of labour in high mountain areas and examines its significance for the integration of these peripheral regions into the economy and society of the respective country. The interpretation is based on concepts of develop- ment and migration theory, especially on Friedmann's (1966) centre-periphery model, and on the hypothesis of mobility transition by Zelinsky (1971). Both stress the importance of labour migrations in the incipient process of spatial development. The practical application of these models to certain mountain areas, however, reveals their limitations. In the Alps, for example, labour migrations and integration of the periphery started centuries before the beginning of the phase of industrialization, although these processes have been interpreted in both models as transitional. On the other hand, mobilization of labour is a recent phenomenon in the Hindukush, Karakoram, and Western Himalaya. Here it developed as a consequence of the opening of the mountain valleys since the nineteenth century and with rapidly increasing over-population. Finally, four socio-economic types of high mountain regions are proposed. These have different patterns of spatial mobility instead of phase or stage models. The dynamic Type 4 is emphasized; this is characterized by recreational and daily commuting mobility and, contrary to the other three types, by full integration into a national or even international system.