EU Migration Legacies – Perspectives from Sending Countries

Eurocentrism and the field of migration research

The study of migration has been established as a discipline in its own right, and yet, is arguably still in the process of ‘becoming’ (Garelli & Tazzioli, 2013). In regions where migration became a matter of politics and political management, one can observe a particularly stark development of research agendas. Migration became one of the central challenges of the twenty-first century. For instance, for Europe and the EU, migration has ever more increased in its significance as being one of the major determinants that steer the future and welfare of European populations and societies (e.g. European Commission, 2014). From a European perspective, immigration flows and its implications were meticulously examined and strategies of ‘how to manage this phenomenon’ were developed over the years. Numerous studies contributed to the field of regulating migration and understanding the motives of people leaving their countries of ‘origin’. Castles and Miller’s Age of Migration (1993) is currently published as 5th edition (now with de Haas), one of the seminal contribution, providing a comprehensive overview of international migration history, flows and consequences including future challenges of human migration such as climate change. Cornelius, Martin, and Hollifield (1994) – for instance – addressed migration from a different angle: How the Western world reacts and deals with the phenomenon of migration. This volume has been updated 10 years later in 2004 (now with Tsuda). Authors try to elaborate the implications of migration for industrialized democracies including France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Japan, Spain and the United States (for the second edition, Australia, Canada, the Netherlands and South Korea were added). How public policy is challenged and how this new driving factor for democratic elections plays out in these industrialized societies are the central themes of these compendia. Authors discuss selection and controlling measures and how and why they often fail. From other angles – and this could be continued ad infinitum – such as history, Hoerder (2002) provided an in-depth insight into the migratory world, while for example, Bartram (2013) intends to speak to economists and psychologists alike.