This work describes recent trends in East Asian migration and their economic effects. The great waves of emigration of the past have largely ceased from Japan and the "dragons" of East Asia, and all have become countries of illegal immigration, return of emigrants, and legal entry of professionals. All the countries except Hong Kong have maintained strict immigration policies in order to protect their traditional and homogeneous societies and the employment and income of their own citizens. But despite active encouragement of industrial displacement to countries with cheap and abundant manpower, the labor shortages in these countries have become so severe that they have had to tolerate increased immigration. There is little evidence that immigrants have taken the jobs of natives or caused their incomes to decrease. They appear to complement shrinking local labor forces in these countries of drastically reduced fertility. The annual growth of the active population is predicted to decline from 523,000 in the 1980s to 227,000 in the 1990s in Japan, from 231,000 to 149,000 in Taiwan, and from 400,000 to 300,000 in Korea. Full employment was achieved in Japan in the early 1960s, in Taiwan in the late 1960s, in Hong Kong in the early 1970s, and in Korea in the late 1980s. Full employment was the major factor prompting relaxed immigration controls in these countries. The foreign workers are concentrated in less skilled jobs in dirty or dangerous industries that are shunned by the local population. Opponents of liberalized immigration policies cite the supplementary expenditures for infrastructure and services necessitated by the workers as well as for integration of workers desiring longterm settlement, especially if they are of different ethnicity. No definitive conclusions can be drawn about the overall positive or negative impact of immigration in East Asia without specifying the perspective from which the analysis is made--economic or social, short or long term, from the employee's viewpoint or the employer's. The consequences of importing manpower must be studied in relation to possible alternatives.

"The article examines the threefold immigration problem currently facing Russia: the influx of refugees from the developing world who hope eventually to reach the West, and the large numbers of non-Russians and ethnic Russians entering the country from the other former Soviet republics. The institutions established recently to tackle immigration are insufficiently funded and often find themselves in conflict with other agencies, both Russian and international. Legislation on the status of immigrants is also confused. The most pressing issue, however, is that of Russian immigration into Russia. This has implications for domestic policies: the immigrants are regarded as a potential solution to the problem of rural depopulation and are prevented from entering densely populated regions. The exodus of ethnic Russians from the other former Soviet republic may also affect Russia's relations with these countries, which it has accused of discriminating against their Russian populations." (SUMMARY IN ENG)

This is a general historical review of global migration trends in the modern era. "The emigration to the New Worlds was in large part due to the demographic pressure within the European continent from the eighteenth century onwards. Up until the thirties a 'Europeanisation' of the planet took place. From this time onwards, migratory movements have tended to reverse, and Europe, as well as East Asian countries with low birth rates, have in turn become territories of immigration." (SUMMARY IN ENG)

From the late nineteenth century through 1974, France permitted immigration to furnish workers and to compensate for the low level of fertility. Intense immigration from North Africa, the economic crisis of the 1970s, and other factors led to policy changes in 1974. French immigration policy since 1974 has fluctuated between guaranteeing foreigners equal rights regardless of their religion, race, culture, or national origin, and attempting to differentiate among immigrants depending on their degree of assimilability to French culture. From 1974 to 1988, France had five different policies regarding whether to permit new immigration and what to do about illegal immigrants. In July 1984, the four major political parties unanimously supported a measure in Parliament that definitively guaranteed the stay in France of legal immigrants, whose assimilation thus assumed priority. Aid for return to the homeland was no longer to be widely offered, and immigration of unskilled workers was to be terminated except for those originating in European Community countries. Major changes of government in 1988 and 1993 affected only the modalities of applying these principles. The number of immigrants has fluctuated since 1974. Unskilled workers, the only category whose entrance was specifically controlled by the 1984 measures, have declined from 174,000 in 1970 to 25,000 in the early 1990s. The number of requests for political asylum declined from 60,000 in 1989 to 27,000 in 1993, and in 1991, 15,467 persons were granted refugee status. The number of immigrants of all types permitted to remain in France declined from 250,000 or 3000 per year in the early 1970s to around 110,000 at present. Although the decline is significant, it appears insufficient to the government in power since 1993. Although migratory flows are often explained as the product of imbalance in the labor market or in demographic growth, the French experience suggests that government policies, both in the sending and receiving countries, are a more potent determinant.

"This article points out that the societies who lack labour force and those who have a surplus, share common interests which may lead to organised or spontaneous migratory flows. Today, emigration is incapable of correcting the weaknesses of the socioeconomic structures of the host societies or of being a means of developing the societies of origin. The latter have in reality only benefited from 'passive' gains. In the future, countries providing labour force must endeavour to improve their understanding of the advantages of emigration for their development and take initiatives in order to improve the integration of population transfers in their economic and social development." (SUMMARY IN ENG)

"Germany, which used to be one of the most tolerant countries in matters concerning asylum, has, since the eighties, been confronted by very large migratory flows. Immigration to [West Germany] consisted every year of hundreds of thousands of asylum-seekers, a similar number of...Germans from Russia, Kazakhstan, Romania and Poland, as well as a large number of East Germans. On May 26th 1993, the Bundestag adopted a new law making asylum and immigration to Germany increasingly difficult. The problem of immigration has not been resolved, however, as is shown by the situation in the East European countries, Germany's neighbours, who are suffering the consequences of the new asylum policy...." (SUMMARY IN ENG)

"This article briefly describes the scope and dimensions of contemporary refugee movements by analyzing some of the forces which shape these flows. Democratization, problems of nationality and minority rights, and structural, political, economic, environmental and social changes in the post-Cold War world (especially in large parts of the developing world and in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union), are likely to result in growing numbers of refugees and internally displaced persons in the years ahead. Refugees and asylum seekers are increasingly regarded not only as a major humanitarian challenge but as a political problem and a threat to the national security of Western states. Refugee policy involves much more than defining or adjudicating claims for asylum, safe haven and refugee status for those who seek to enter or stay in the West. It is now apparent that an effective response to these issues will have to involve major Western foreign policy and international actions." (SUMMARY IN ENG)

Trends in migration to the United States are reviewed, with a focus on migration policy and changes in migration legislation in recent years. The author evaluates the U.S. policy of selective immigration based on migrants' professional qualifications or socioeconomic status. (SUMMARY IN ENG)