Migration Effects on International Politics

Migration Effects on International Politics

Introduction

The purpose of this paper is to enlighten and discuss the impact of migration on the politics of that country. This paper discusses different perspectives of migrations and its impact on the political structure of the country. In addition, the paper also discusses the rules and litigations that are imposed on the migrants of a particular country; these rules and regulations are set by the regulatory bodies and are significantly affected by the political structure of the country. The rules of entry and of exit are important variables influencing the magnitude, the composition, and the directionality of international migration. There are four clusters of variables that shape international migration. One cluster can be characterized as differential variables, such as wage differentials, differences in employment rates, differences in land prices, and even differences in degree days! A second group of variables are spatial, such as distance and transportation costs. A third group can be characterized as affinity variables, such as religion, culture, language, and kinship networks. And the fourth are the access variables, the rules for exit and for entry. Differential and spatial variables are usually the concern of economists; spatial variables are of particular interest to geographers; affinity variables attract the interest of sociologists and anthropologists; and access variables are the concern of political scientists and students of international relations.

Individual decisions by migrants are obviously influenced by the rules of entry. What is less obvious is that migrants also consider the exit rules of countries to which they contemplate migration. Migrants are usually reluctant to seek entry into countries that have restricted exit rules. Countries that restrict exit are less attractive than countries with similar economic opportunities that freely permit exit. Similarly, migrants may consider whether their decision leaves open or precludes subsequent migration. Jewish emigrants from the Soviet Union, for example, considering whether to migrate to either the United States or Israel, may choose the United States, knowing that the option of moving to Israel remains open, while the alterative decision may preclude further migration.

Discussion

Sovereignty and Liberalism

The United States is among a small number of countries in which national origins and ethnicity have been superseded by educational and occupational considerations as determinants of entry. It is time, of course, that the countries of Western Europe and of the Persian Gulf have made entry by foreigners into the labor force easier, but unlike the United States they sharply distinguish between the rules of entry for employment and the rules for becoming a citizen.' What these comments suggest is that entry rules are only marginally shaped by economic considerations even for those countries that are relatively open to the flow of trade, capital, and technology. How a people define their national identity and their receptivity to other peoples with different identities shape the entry rules set by governments and condition the way governments respond to changes in the demand for labor.

It may be to define what constitutes a sovereign state, on one point ...