Abstract
This chapter advances with an approach to researching and analysing migration processes that combine a livelihood approach to exploring migration dynamics with a relational political economy perspective that deepens understanding of the broader social, economic and political processes. Basic economic theory provides many predictions with regard to the costs and benefits of migrants to home and host countries. Migration affects production, employment and wages, assimilation and attitudes towards migration, economic behaviour of the local population and migrants, international trade, etc. in both the host and home countries. In the wake of the rebirth of academic interest in political economy approaches in the 1990s, the argument was advanced for a ‘gendered political economy’. Feminist scholars have for long stressed the need for fostering a greater understanding of political economy models as inherently gendered, through critiquing economistic concepts such as ‘rational choice’, the privileging of the public over the private and the dichotomous treatment of agency.
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Notes
- 1.
South-South migration has thus also been constructed as a phenomenon, which is supposedly different and to be treated separately from South-North migration (some interesting questions about the political construction of the ‘South’ and the ‘North’ are raised by Bakewell 2009).
- 2.
Prominent examples of ‘migration optimists’ are the Todaro-Model (see Todaro 1969) and the New Economics of Labour approach (see Stark and Bloom 1985). Compare discussion in Geiger and Steinbrink 2012).
- 3.
An evaluation of the IOM’s claim is clearly beyond the scope and the focus of this section. Here, it suffices to say that in practice states are still reluctant to cooperate on matters of migration; and even if it were possible to establish a global migration regime, it would probably not be to the benefit of all. The ‘migration management’, which is currently practiced by most migrant receiving states, often with the support of the IOM, can rather be described as being “for the benefit of some”, as its main objective is to enable the flow of wanted/beneficial migration, while curbing unwanted/unbeneficial migration (Düvell 2002).
- 4.
The concept of ‘transnationalism’ was developed by American anthropologists in the 1990s and has since emerged as a dominant paradigm in migration research. It refers to “processes by which migrants forge and sustain multi-stranded social relations that link together their societies of origin and settlement” (Basch et al. 1992) .
- 5.
The term ‘reproductive age group’ refers to the active reproductive years of women, starting with menarche around 12–14 years and ending with menopause around 45–49 years. For demographic purposes, the reproductive age group is usually defined as 15–49 years or 12–49 years.
- 6.
Leaving the parental home and establishing new living arrangements; completing full-time education; forming close, stable personal relationships outside of the family, often resulting in marriage and children; and testing the labour market, finding work and possibly settling into a career, and achieving a more or less sustainable livelihood.
- 7.
Prime time of life seems subjective and arbitrary. Plenty of people who would say their retirement was their prime time of life. However, here the youth is considered prime time of life.
- 8.
Adolescence is usually defined as a time between the ages of 10 and 19 years when young people are making the transition from childhood to adulthood. The three main aspects of this stage of life are demographic and biological , psychological and emotional , and economic (Amin et al. 1998).
- 9.
In a setting such as Bangladesh, where girls are considered eligible for marriage soon after puberty and work provides an alternative to early marriage, child labour legislation has important consequences for reproductive health. Importantly, the transition from childhood to adulthood brings young migrants to terms with their own sexuality, which in Bangladesh, is managed through early marriage and purdah .
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Ullah, A.A., Haque, M.S. (2020). Political Economy of Migration, and Social Force. In: The Migration Myth in Policy and Practice. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-1754-9_5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-1754-9_5
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