Opening and closing borders: Migration and mobility in East-Central Europe

and the Czech and Slovak Republics ± countries which have been crucially affected by the opening of borders to the European Union. There has not only been migration from these countries, but also into these countries; the former has declined and the latter has increased in the last ten years. The paper argues, however, that this migration most often takes the form of short-term circulatory movements. It considers a number of factors which account for this and explain why migration is not as high as had been expected (and feared) and why it might be better described as mobility. The paper goes on to consider the effects of migration on the host societies, especially in terms of xenophobia,