Migrant Relocation Research Articles

American Perceptions and Attitudes about Domestic Climate Migrants and Migration

Abstract Domestic climate migration is likely to increase in the future, but we know little about public perceptions and attitudes about climate migrants and migration. Understanding how perceptions and attitudes are formed is a critical task in assessing public support for assistance policies and developing effective messaging campaigns. In this paper, we aim to better understand how the U.S. public perceives domestic climate migrants. We use novel survey data to identify the relationship between climate change risk perceptions and awareness of “climate migrants,” belief that domestic climate migration is currently happening in the United States, perceived voluntariness of domestic climate migrant relocation, and support for the development of assistance programs for domestic climate migrants. We utilize a large, nationally representative panel of U.S. adults (N = 4074) collected over three waves in 2022. We find that climate change risk perceptions and perceptions of whether migration is voluntary are key drivers of perceptions and attitudes toward domestic climate migrants. We provide key suggestions to policy makers and decision-makers to improve outcomes for host and migrant communities. Significance Statement This study illuminates factors that influence the how the public forms perceptions and attitudes about domestic climate migrants in the United States. For the first time, we offer insight into the drivers of public opinion toward domestic climate migrants and migration. Our results indicate that the various perceptions of climate migrants are largely driven by preexisting climate change risk perceptions and respondent characteristics. Our findings create a new connection with the existing literature on climate change risk perceptions and offer an opportunity for decision-makers and policy makers to create effective messaging campaigns on topics related to domestic climate migration in the United States.

Can Non-Economic Incentives Improve the Incentive Effect of Relocating Immigrants? Evidence from Wuwei City, Located at the Northern Foothills of the Qilian Mountains.

Towards the long-term sustainable development of the northern foothills of the Qilian Mountains, the design of migration motivation mechanisms is a key issue. Considering motivation perspectives and social exchange theories, a framework and measurement scale were constructed to analyze the influence of government incentives on Wuwei’s relocated immigrants. ANOVA and generalized linear regression models were employed to analyze the differences among regions and groups, along with the influence of various incentives. The results of the study indicate: (1) In Wuwei City, non-economic incentive factors were rated higher than economic incentives. The overall evaluation value for the negative behavior of immigrants was 0.369, and the incentive effect score was 0.633, with significant regional variation. (2) Based on cultural types, Wuwei City was found to have a high percentage of hierarchists, egalitarians and individualists, comprising 39.22%, 23.85% and 21.54%, respectively. Among cultural types, motivation factors and the incentive effect of the government made no difference except for the index of communication and opportunistic behavior. (3) Immigrants’ negative behavior was significantly affected by their cultural types. An economic incentive from the government increased the likelihood that immigrants would adopt negative behavior, whereas a participation incentive effectively eliminated those behaviors. (4) The government’s economic incentives appear significantly better at promoting the incentive effect than non-economic incentives, but in dispelling the negative behavior of immigrants, non-economic incentives have played a significantly greater role than economic incentives. Incentives associated with relocation provide a new objective basis for determining a policy scheme for the relocation of migrants in the Qilian Mountains, and departments can formulate corresponding incentive models and support policies accordingly as a consequence.

Dismantling the “Jungle”: migrant relocation and extreme voting in France

AbstractLarge migrant inflows have spurred anti-immigrant sentiment, but can small inflows have a different impact? We exploit the redistribution of migrants after the dismantling of the “Calais Jungle” in France to study the impact of the exposure to few migrants, which we estimate using difference-in-differences and instrumental variables. We find that in the presence of a migrant center (CAO), the growth rate of vote shares for the main far-right party (Front National (FN), our proxy for anti-immigrant sentiment) between 2012 and 2017 is reduced by about 12 percentage points. This effect, which crucially depends on the inflow's size, points toward the contact hypothesis (Allport, 1954).

Performance and Obstacle Tracking to Qilian Mountains’ Ecological Resettlement Project: A Case Study on the Theory of Public Value

In Gansu Province, China, Wuwei City is an ecologically fragile migration area at the intersection of the Loess Plateau, the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, and the Mongolia-New Plateau. Using the Triangular Fuzzy TOPSIS method and the obstacle factor diagnostic model, the implementation performance and follow-up support issues of the Ecological Resettlement Project were analyzed from the perspective of the eco-migrant and the public value theory. In contrast to traditional performance appraisal methods, Triangular Fuzzy TOPSIS breaks through the ambiguity of complex environments and subjective information and effectively quantifies the fuzziness of evaluator language variables to improve the validity. The overall performance of the Ecological Resettlement Project in Wuwei is good; the average closeness degree of process is higher than outcome. Migrants rated the fairness of the project as the highest, followed by support, economic outcome, and satisfaction. Gulang County’s performance in the Ecological Resettlement Project is the best, followed by Tianzhu County and Liangzhou District. Project obstacles were mostly related to the outcome dimension, especially the ecological restoration and management, the return to poverty risk, and industrial development on the resettlement site. The main obstacle to the process dimension is migrant satisfaction with government subsidies. Research results provide case study support and experience inspiration for migrant relocation models and their long-term livelihood improvement in the context of rural revitalization.

Stepwise migration: What drives the relocation of migrants upon return?

AbstractThis study explores the drivers of migrants' internal relocation upon return from abroad. Acknowledging that return cannot be disconnected from prior international migration, as suggested by the new theoretical developments in stepwise migration (King & Skeldon, 2010), we provide quantitative and qualitative evidence to substantiate these patterns of stepwise migration among Romanian returnees. Building on the distinction between U‐turn and J‐turn, namely, return to the same place versus relocation to a different place within the origin country, our findings suggest that alongside the structural context and life course careers, individual sociodemographics and aspects of migration experience abroad play a significant role in explaining the choice of a J‐turn. Women, for instance, are more likely to relocate upon return than their male counterparts, whereas older returnees have lower odds of a J‐turn trajectory compared with younger migrants. Similarly, an increased length of stay abroad and repeated migrations are positively associated with a J‐turn.

SOME ASPECTS OF ADAPTATION OF DEPORTED BOYKOS IN THE STEPPE DISTRICT OF ROZDILNA

In the article, based on the analysis of the memories of the deportees, an attempt is made to scrutinize some aspects of their adaptation in the Rozdilna district of Odesa Region. The information obtained gives grounds to determine that the deportees became hostages of the Polish-Soviet border adjustment treaty of 1951, known in Poland under the pseudonym "Akcja H-T 1951". This was not the first wave of immigrants in the Odesa Region, so because of the resettlement of the western Ukrainian population in 1944-1946 from Nadsyannia, Kholm, Podlasie and Lemko, thousands were forced to leave their homes, farms, change or even lose their usual way of life. The resettlement of the western Ukrainian population affected the ethnic composition of a number of regions of the Ukrainian SSR and Odesa Region in particular.The study analyzes the literature and testimonies, which provide an opportunity to detail the process of organizing the resettlement and relocation of migrants in new territories. The analyzed sources of information give grounds to claim that the process of resettlement in some places was spontaneous and disorderly, as evidenced by the problems faced by deportees in the new territories. Among the main problems were the unwillingness of the authorities to provide housing for migrants, the need to work hard in the collective farm in low-paid jobs, new climate conditions that have encouraged them to adapt and master other types of farming. There were some cases of interethnic hostility, ideological confrontation. The materials testify to the unwillingness of the state in the conditions of hostilities and in the first post-war period to provide the displaced with even vital essentials.It was very difficult for the Boykos to retain their ethnic peculiarity in the conditions of the Ukrainian South. First, the Boykos lost their small homeland and gradually realized the impossibility of returning to it; secondly, they found themselves in unusual geographical and climate conditions - the steppe zone has different trends of economic activity. As a result, the Boykos specific labor skills were lost. In addition, working in the collective farm from morning until night, parents were not able to pass on the torch to their children; third, the Boykos had to live among people with different historical experiences and different mentalities. Here the negative image of the Ukrainian of the western territories was cultivated - "unreliable person", "anti-Soviet element", "Bandera"; fourth, historical destiny and culture of the Boykos were deliberately ignored. The peculiarity of the deportation action was that all residents of the area, regardless of ethnicity, were subject to eviction; the evicted had no right to freely choose their place of future residence.

Immigration as a Divisive Topic: Clusters and Content Diffusion in the Italian Twitter Debate

In this work, we apply network science to analyse almost 6 M tweets about the debate around immigration in Italy, collected between 2018 and 2019, when many related events captured media outlets’ attention. Our aim was to better understand the dynamics underlying the interactions on social media on such a delicate and divisive topic, which are the actors that are leading the discussion, and whose messages have the highest chance to reach out the majority of the accounts that are following the debate. The debate on Twitter is represented with networks; we provide a characterisation of the main clusters by looking at the highest in-degree nodes in each one and by analysing the text of the tweets of all the users. We find a strongly segregated network which shows an explicit interplay with the Italian political and social landscape, that however seems to be disconnected from the actual geographical distribution and relocation of migrants. In addition, quite surprisingly, the influencers and political leaders that apparently lead the debate, do not necessarily belong to the clusters that include the majority of nodes: we find evidence of the existence of a ‘silent majority’ that is more connected to accounts who expose a more positive stance toward migrants, while leaders whose stance is negative attract apparently more attention. Finally, we see that the community structure clearly affects the diffusion of content (URLs) by identifying the presence of both local and global trends of diffusion, and that communities tend to display segregation regardless of their political and cultural background. In particular, we observe that messages that spread widely in the two largest clusters, whose most popular members are also notoriously at the opposite sides of the political spectrum, have a very low chance to get visibility into other clusters.

Politicized Transnationalism: The Visegrád Countries in the Refugee Crisis

Existing research on the evolution of European integration has pitted economic against identity issues. In the economic sphere, governments are arguably able to pursue their preferences more independently. If, however, identity issues become politicized this is supposed to suggest that governments lose their dominant position in integration and gradually become agents of Eurosceptic parties and/or electorates. This article looks at a phenomenon neither the intergovernmentalist nor the postfunctionalist perspective can fully explain: the emergence of the Visegrád Group (V4) as a collective actor in European politics in early 2016. This emergence occurred in the wake of the refugee crisis during which the identity issue of migration was politicized. However, there was no coherent partisan composition uniting V4 governments. Based on a sequence elaboration of all press statements of meetings of the V4 Prime Ministers since their EU-accession in 2004, we show that what at first sight appears to be informed by anti-immigrant and Eurosceptic sentiments may in fact display a more ambivalent position towards regional integration. The post-refugee crisis V4 appears as a case of politicized transnationalism—that is, cooperation to achieve transnational interests under the condition of politicization. This transnational interest not only comprised opposition to a relocation of migrants, but also the maintenance of a core transnational freedom within the EU, namely free movement under the Schengen acquis. We conclude that, under the condition of increasing politicization, identity issues help to forge government alliances of governments pursuing economic preferences.

Sovereignty of Member States in New European Pact for Migration and Asylum

Abstract The author of the article attempts to analyze the consequences for Member States’ sovereignty arising from the European asylum system reform and harmonization proposed in September 2020 by the European Commission. The author believes that so-called solidarity mechanism, however designed with intention of burden sharing and help, de facto has the potential to become migrant relocation mechanism. That argument is already being raised by Member States that are opposing the European Commission’s proposal. According to them, the proposal violates rules guaranteeing Member States’ rights to determine volumes of admissions of the third country nationals, explicitly expressed in the Treaty on the European Union. The author also notices that decision-making power on the relocations is transferred to the Commission, leaving limited flexibility in gesture of Member States. Without being opposed to subsidiarity principle itself, the article questions whether the details of the Commission’s proposal are not actually against the principle and certain elements, like effective return, are not better achieved at the national level. In the research procedure, a method of critical analysis of the content of studies and the available sources was used.

Je viens d’Alep, itinéraire d’un réfugié ordinaire

Je viens d’Alep, itinéraire d’un réfugié ordinaire

Chronotopic representations as an effect of individuation: The case of the European migrant crisis

AbstractThis article discusses internet memes in their capacity to prompt affective responses on social media in the aftermath of the migrant crisis. The focus is on Facebook pages devoted to geopolitical satire meme-comics known as countryballs and their uptake with regard to the proposed migrant relocation mechanisms. Engagement with internet memes reveals a multilayered complexity behind what is often simplistically portrayed as pro- or anti-migrant sentiment. In order to account for this complexity, the paper combines Gilbert Simondon's theory of individuation with Mikhail Bakhtin's notion of the chronotope currently developed in interactional sociolinguistics along the lines of symbolic interactionism. Finally, this article shows that memes are not a mere product of participatory culture, but rather a powerful instigator of technosocial and often heteroglossic practices that co-organize social life in the new polycentric collectivities appearing on social media. (Chronotope, individuation, internet memes, countryballs, Facebook, identity)*

Urban commons and freedom of movement The housing struggles of recently arrived migrants in Rome

ABSTRACT The arrival of migrants on Italian coasts following the so-called Arab Spring in 2011 has led to a multiplication of housing struggles. These struggles are widespread across the country and focus on the occupation of abandoned buildings and their transformation into collective housing spaces to provide an alternative to the formal reception system. This article will focus on the housing struggles in Rome, as the place with the highest number of occupations and the longest tradition of campaigns for the right to housing of migrants in the country. These struggles are the outcome of the encounter of recently arrived migrants with local solidarity movements and build on existing occupation movements and housing struggles. The article explores how the mobilizations over the right to housing intersect with issues such as the social appropriation of urban commons, the regeneration from below of unused areas, freedom of movement, and the contestation of Italian government policies on the relocation of migrants and refugees. The paper argues that housing struggles not only appropriate and regenerate urban commons, but also challenge the reception governance of migration and the policies of border control.

Salvini's Record on Border Tightening and Relocation

Matteo Salvini, like many national-populists, is a vocal critic of the European Union. It showed during his first year in office, when he focused on migration. His aim was to tighten the maritime borders of Italy and, in so doing, to force other EU states to participate in migrant relocation – something Brussels had failed to do. The record is mixed. Success was accompanied by failure. This essay begins with a brief look at the past, with the situation that Salvini inherited from his predecessor, Marco Minniti of the Democratic Gentiloni government. The second part deals with the more important operations that Salvini managed to control during his first year in office. The third part discusses some of the special issues he encountered including, among other things, the difficult position of Malta. The article ends with an evaluation of Salvini's overall performance, followed by a table listing the 60 or so SAR operations that he had to deal with.

The Dynamics of Attitudes Towards Migration in Russia (according to data of the European Social Survey 2006–2016)

The studies of attitudes towards migration in Russia indicate a negative attitude of the receiving population towards migrants and the consequences they bring. Despite the fact that there are works done on individual waves of the European Social Survey (ESS) study, the question remains as to what the dynamics of attitudes towards migration in Russia is and what is the reason for the negative attitude. A review of studies on the causes of negative attitudes towards migrants over the years has shown that in most studies the economic factor has the strongest explanatory power. More pronounced negative attitude in countries with a large proportion of migrants in the population, with a high level of unemployment in the country. In an article based on data from the five waves (2006, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2016), the ESS examines the attitude of Russians to migration over a period of 10 years. At the 2016 data, there is an increase in negative assessments of the variables under consideration, which characterize the attitude towards the relocation of migrants into the country of the respondent and the assessment of the changes introduced by migrants. Using regression with dummy variables, an attempt is made to determine the factors affecting the attitude of Russians to migrants. Several models have been built, including economic, cultural, contextual, sociodemographic factors and the human capital factor, in addition, all models included the variable of the year of study, taking into account the effect of the period. It was revealed that none of the models constructed explains the attitude of Russians towards migrants in the dynamics of years in Russia, the coefficient of determination in all versions of the models built did not exceed 1%. The conclusion about the limitations of the database to identify factors influencing the attitude of Russians to migrants in the dynamics of years is substantiated. Restrictions, in particular, are related to the fact that many of the variables of interest do not repeat in all ESS waves, which makes it impossible to study them in dynamics. The potential of qualitative methods as a possible option for further study of the topic is discussed.

Dismantling the 'Jungle': Migrant Relocation and Extreme Voting in France

Can a small scale inflow of migrants affect electoral outcomes? We study whether the relocation of migrants from the Calais “Jungle” to temporary migrant-centers (CAOs) in France affected the results of the 2017 presidential election. Using an instrumental variables approach that relies on the size of holiday villages present in municipalities, we find that the presence of a CAO reduced the vote share increase of the far-right party (Front National) by about 15.7 percent. These effects, which dissipate spatially and depend on city characteristics and on the size of the inflow, point towards the contact hypothesis (Allport (1954)).

The Rise of an Ethnocultural Constitutional Identity in the Jurisprudence of the East Central European Courts

The recent trend in East Central European jurisprudence is that courts apply an ethnocultural understanding of identity, thereby putting European integration in peril. Although the EU is clearly committed to shared values and principles, Article 4(2) of the Treaty on European Union emphasizes that “the Union shall respect the national identities of the Member States.” Due to the recent migration flow in Europe, the Member States are currently attempting to (re)define themselves and offer a legal definition of identity. East Central European Member States, by labelling ethnocultural national identity as constitutional identity, apply Article 4(2) as a means of derogating from some of their obligations under EU law. Despite the vast literature available on national identity and its role in EU law, little attention has been paid to the recently emerging trend of judicial reinvention of identity in East Central Europe. This is what this Article offers. It focuses on the Visegrád Group, which consists of the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia. The Visegrád countries (V4) are united in their views on rejecting migrant relocation quotas in the EU and define their exclusionary constitutional identities accordingly. The main subject of the Article is the relevant case law of the V4 constitutional courts. These courts have the authoritative role in enforcing nation-state policies based upon ethnocultural considerations. The Article provides a comparative-analytical description of the judicial interpretations of constitutional identity in these countries based on which we can better understand the recent East Central European trend of disintegration.

The Gates of Greece: Refugees and Policy Choices

The scale of the migrant crisis took Europe by surprise in 2015, but 2016 promised to be far worse. Europe dithered on how to respond, confusing the demands of compassion with migrant relocation policy and failing to recognize Greece's inability to resolve the crisis independently. Pioneering academic work on refugees and assimilation limns the essential choices policy makers have: (1) throw open the gates to Europe and hope new Muslims citizens will eventually assimilate, (2) exclude Muslim immigrants and try to subordinate Islamic beliefs to European norms for those already in Europe, or (3) test whether Islamic countries are able and willing to support the current international liberal order, including freedom of conscience on matters of faith. Greece's current weakness means it will have to accommodate whatever choice European leaders make.

Getting There? The Effects of Functional Factors, Time and Place on the Social Integration of Migrants

A survey of 1400 migrants, including many asylum seekers and refugees, living in deprived areas in Glasgow, UK is used to test hypotheses in the literature about the effects of functional factors (educational qualifications, ability to speak English, employment), time and place upon the social integration of migrants. Three aspects are considered: trust, reliance and safety; social relations; sense of community. Overall, social integration indicators were worse for migrants than for British citizens living in the same places. Functional factors were positively associated with different aspects of social integration: higher education with more neighbourly behaviours; employment with better social relations and belonging; and English language with greater reliance on others and available social support. Time was positively associated with most social integration indicators; time in the local area more so than time in the UK. Living in a regeneration area was negatively associated with many aspects of social integration. The findings raise questions about the doubly negative effects of the use of dispersal policy for asylum seekers to regeneration areas, necessitating secondary relocation of migrants through further, forced onward migration.

Indicators of Host Community Readiness in Refugee Relocation Programs: Factors that Contribute to a Positive Relocation Experience

This paper proposes that successful relocation programs are twofold; they not only rely upon readiness factors for new arrivals, but are also dependant upon host communities that are well equipped to embrace diverse cultures in a holistic way. Determinants of mental health such as economic resources, capacity building enterprises, government policies, innovative training initiatives through employment and service providers, assist in securing and sustaining a positive settlement experience (VicHealth 2005). Ensuring that relocation and resettlement programs are adequately sourced, monitored and improved, is essential to the implementation of inclusive, responsive and innovative settlement practices. Exploring the means through which regional and rural communities monitor, implement and reflect upon current relocation practices highlights best practices tied to settlement experiences for migrants and refugees. Most importantly, this paper seeks to document and make public those indicators that best reflect host community readiness in migrant relocation programs. Voicing and highlighting essential infrastructures needed for the implementation and planning of relocation programs allows for worthwhile and solid futures for host communities, new arrivals and the overall Australian population.

Changing ruralities, changing landscapes: exploring social recomposition using a multi-scale approach

Changes in agricultural practices have led to declines in the farming population and significant changes within the landscape. Paradoxically, many rural areas are recording significant demographic growth. Given the extent of rural areas experiencing these changes, little attention has been devoted to the relationship between rural migration processes and landscape developments. Therefore, the various rural dynamics resulting from these phenomena merit closer investigation. Moreover, we should explore these complex processes at scales where they are most evident. Through the multi-scale research approach used in this study, these processes are investigated in their regional, local, and domestic contexts. As shown by regional typological outlines, the great diversity of the rural areas indicates an increasing dissociation between the agricultural and socio-demographic trajectories. From our local-scale study, changes in lot occupation revealed new residential settlement patterns induced by an influx of in-migrants. Specific landscape characteristics seem to be a determining force shaping these population flows. At the same time, these population movements have dissimilar influences on evolving landscape dynamics. With the exception of isolated agricultural abandonment trajectories, migrant relocation does not seem to affect specific local-scale land use development. However, it is significantly associated with individual domestic practices. These practices are indicative of the migrant's identity in the rural landscape; further, they suggest specific values for the landscape's qualitative dimensions. These emerging urban and non-farming interests in rural landscapes challenge planning policies to guide the landscape's evolution for the benefit of its “producers” and “consumers”.