Transit, Migration and Politics: Trends and Constructions on the Fringes of Europe

Transit migration is a synthetic concept that merges transit and migration. The concept is as dynamic as it is scientifically blurred and ideologically and politically loaded. It is frequently confused with irregular and circular migration, with shuttle migration and with refugees. The term refers to certain forms of supposedly temporary immigration and to migrants who keep moving from country to country, either intentionally or in response to changing conditions, rising pressures and new incentives. And more generally, it refers to real and imagined journeys and odysseys, which may be long in distance and time, they may continually change direction and at times they may be hazardous.