Forced and voluntary migration
Push and pull forces are often discussed in terms of migration that is forced or voluntary. Generally, economic migration is seen as voluntary. While some people may feel forced to move due to unemployment or a lack of economic opportunity, for the most part, people are free to choose whether or not to migrate. For this reason, those deemed economic migrants are rarely given refugee status or counted as internally displaced persons.
People who migrate because of armed conflict, persecution, or environmental disasters, however, are more often seen as part of forced migration. People in this category are more likely to receive refugee status or be counted as internally displaced people. During the European migrant crisis of 2015−16, countries of the European Union struggled to separate migrants who were forced by warfare or persecution to flee to Europe from those who arrived as voluntary economic migrants. In general, Syrians fleeing civil war were regarded as forced migrants and given priority for refugee status. Others, such as those from Afghanistan and countries of North Africa, were classified as economic migrants and denied legal entry.
In reality, the difference between forced and voluntary migration can be blurred, and it can be difficult to fit migrants into just one category. Migrants search for security and opportunity for themselves and their families. Poor economies and insecurity often go hand in hand, so teasing out who migrated primarily because of risk to their safety and who migrated primarily for economic opportunity is difficult in most cases.
Go to ArcGIS Online to complete exercise 3.2: “Push and pull forces.”
Spatial interaction and migration
Understanding how some places push migrants to leave and other places pull migrants in is an important first step in understanding migration patterns. But once migrants decide to leave a place, they typically have more than one choice of where to move to. Thus, is it important to return to the idea of spatial interaction between places.
Distance decay and intervening obstacles
While differences between places in terms of economic, social, political, and environmental characteristics are powerful determinants of migration, intervening obstacles lie between places. These obstacles can direct the flow of migration between different places. One important obstacle is distance. As you recall, distance decay refers to the tendency for spatial interaction to occur more between places that are close together than between places that are far apart. Interaction decays, or declines, as distance increases between two places. Thus, the farther two places are from each other, the more difficult it is to migrate between them. With distance come increases in costs and the potential for risk to life and limb. Economic costs for transportation will be higher if one wants to migrate a greater distance. Similarly, cost in time will increase. Risk can also increase with distance, with greater odds of becoming the victim of crime, being stopped by government authorities, or facing inclement environmental conditions, such as dangerous extremes of heat or cold.
To use the example of Syrian emigrants again, many more migrated to nearby Jordan, Lebanon, or Turkey than to Europe. As these countries lie adjacent to Syria, costs in terms of money and time were much less than the costs of migrating to Europe. Furthermore, short moves by land to these countries were much safer than attempting dangerous crossing of the Mediterranean Sea.
The dangers involved with migrating longer distances are also evidenced by those who make their way from sub-Saharan Africa north to Libya as they attempt to reach Europe. Migrants are frequently abducted by criminal gangs to be held for ransom and beaten until family members pay for their release. Those who cannot pay are forced to work as slaves, and sexual abuse and forced prostitution is common. Upon arrival in Libya, they are held for weeks or months in squalid housing with limited food and water until a boat is ready to take them across the Mediterranean Sea. Even after embarking for Europe, the risks continue. Too often, overcrowded boats sink, killing dozens or hundreds of people (figure 3.22). In other cases, the Libya coast guard detains migrants and sends them to detention centers that are little better than where they were held by smugglers. People risk their lives to migrate when push and pull forces are strong enough, but long distances can present incredible risk.
Because of the power of distance decay, most international immigration is intraregional. For instance, 52 percent of African migrants live within Africa, 60 percent of Asian migrants live within Asia, and 66 percent of European migrants live within Europe. The only exception to the pattern is with Latin American and Caribbean migrants, 70 percent of whom migrate to North America.
Figure 3.22.Survivors of a Mediterranean Sea crossing arrive in Italy. Forty-nine bodies were found in the overcrowded hold of the smuggler’s boat. Photo by Wead. Stock photo ID: 328040444. Shutterstock.
Physical barriers, both natural and human-built, can also act as intervening obstacles. Natural barriers, such as mountains, rivers, deserts, and oceans, limit the movement of people between places. Likewise, human-built physical barriers, such as walls, can also restrict migration. No doubt there would be more Cuban immigrants in the United States if the countries were not separated by ninety miles of ocean. Likewise, fences, cameras, motion sensors, and other security barriers along the US-Mexico border severely limit the number of people crossing there (figure 3.23).
In addition, government immigration policies can create intervening obstacles. Restrictive policies in destination countries and in-transit countries can limit the flow of migrants. Conversely, open immigration policies, or policies that actively recruit migrants, will increase flows. More on immigration policies is discussed later in this chapter.
The concept of cultural distance can also play a role in migration patterns, as people tend to move between places with similar cultures. As discussed in the section on push and pull forces, flows of migrants tend to be greater between places with the same language and religion (figure 3.24). English speakers tend to migrate more between the United States, Great Britain, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada, while Arabic speakers move more between the countries of North Africa and the Middle East. This also holds true for former European colonies. A significant number of migrants from the former French colonies of Algeria and Vietnam migrated to France, while the same occurred with Great Britain and its former colonies, such as India, Pakistan, Hong Kong, and Nigeria.
Figure 3.23.Physical barriers to migration. Photo of the border fence and US Border and Customs Protection patrol. The border wall separating San Diego, California (left), and Tijuana, Mexico, seen in ArcScene. Explore this scene at https://arcg.is/1PWeSW. Border fence photo by mdurson. Stock photo ID: 595401863. Shutterstock. Border wall image from ArcScene, Esri.
Figure 3.24.Cultural distance and migration. Places with similar cultural characteristics, such as language, will have more spatial interaction, “shortening” the distance between them. A Lebanese-Moroccan food restaurant in Paris. Photo by Hadrian. Stock photo ID: 275980151. Shutterstock.
The gravity model
The gravity model adds another component to the analysis of migration flows: size. Based on the ideas of Isaac Newton, the gravity model states that both distance and size will influence the flow of migrants between two places. The degree of migration