Migration and the global economic crisis: one year on
Stephen Castles, Mark J. Miller
The aim of this paper is to draw attention to some of the main international migration trends that have emerged over the last year or two in the context of the most serious economic crisis to affect the capitalist world since the 1930s. We will start with some conceptual points, and then move on to look at some of the more descriptive evidence. It is important to realise, however, that it is still too early to come to any clear conclusions on possible fundamental shifts in economic patterns that might herald a reshaping of migration systems at the global, regional, national or local levels. A major question remains as to the degree of what Katzenstein refers to as internationalization in response to the crisis (2005, 16-19). Will states reaffirm sufficient coordination and control over financial and economic matters and thereby bring the free-market and deregulatory excesses of the Reagan-Thatcher-Bush era to a definitive end?