Security, Stability, and International Migration

At high national levels the issues of international migration and refugees capture the attention of state department heads cabinets and ministries of defense and affect internal security and external relations. Migration flows are affected by economic migration for better employment opportunities and by pushes due to domestic violence and persecution. Examples abound: the recent exodus of east Germans to the west; soviet Jewish settlement of the West Bank; repatriation of refugees from Hong Kong; placement of Western migrants at strategic locations as prevention against air strikes; anxieties about Eastern European migration to Western Europe; Uganda refugees in Rwanda; and the defeat of the Kabul regime in Afghanistan. The breakup of empires and countries has created uncertainty among minorities. International migration is also subject to people fleeing from environmental degradation droughts floods famines and civil conflicts. Access to communication and transportation brings greater opportunities for migration. More people want to leave than there is room for them in other countries. The media have inadequately represented the direction of flows. Only a small part of the 17 million migrants have flowed to Western Europe or to the US. The largest flows are among developing countries particularly among Africa South Asia Southeast Asia and the Persian Gulf. There is a need for a security/stability framework in contrast to an international political economy framework for the study of international migration. State policies are being shaped by concerns over internal security and international security. The literature on international migration tends to focus on global economic conditions as a determinant of population movement. Neglected is the role of governments in encouraging or discouraging migration which is not due to economic conditions and neglects the noneconomic considerations of governments in encouraging or discouraging economic migrants. The article focuses on identifying types of international movements produced by desires for state security and stability (forced and induced migration) circumstances when international migration and the ways states respond to migration are seen as a threat.