Sharing the burden in a free riders’ land: The EU migration and asylum policy in the views of public opinion and politicians

New divisions have emerged within the European Union over the handling of the recent migration crisis. While both frontline and favoured destination countries are called upon to deal with the number of migrants looking for international protection and better living conditions, no consensus has been reached yet on the quota-based mechanisms for the relocation of refugees and financial help to exposed countries proposed by the EU. Such mechanisms pose a trade-off for member states: the EU's response to the crisis offers help to countries under pressure, but it inevitably requires burden-sharing among all EU members and a limitation of their national sovereignty. Within this scenario, the article compares how public opinion and political elites in ten different EU countries view a common EU migration policy grounded on solidarity and burden-sharing. By tracing both within- and cross-national patterns of convergence (and divergence), the article shows that contextual factors influence policy preferences, with support for solidarity measures being stronger in countries with higher shares of illegal migrants and asylum seekers. While individuals’ predispositions, identity and ideological orientations account for both masses’ and elites’ attitudes towards burden-sharing measures, subjective evaluations and beliefs concerning the severity of the crisis provide additional and alternative explanations when looking at the public's preferences. In particular, it is found that concern about the flow of migrants to Europe consolidates the impact of contextual factors, whereas the overestimation of the immigrant population fosters hostility against solidarity measures, with both effects more pronounced as the country's exposure to the crisis increases. In the light of these results, the main implication of this study is that EU institutions have to primarily address entrenched beliefs and misperceptions about immigrants to enhance public support for a joint approach to migration.     

The importance of discretion for welfare services to minorities: Examining workload and anti-immigration attitudes

Migration influx in Western countries resulting in increasingly diverse societies results in more complex situations for bureaucrats in their client interactions in welfare organizations. The role of discretion for services to clients has received much attention in the public administration research and therefore this study explores the relation among perceived workload, anti-immigration attitudes, perceived discretion, and perceived difficulty in working with migrants. The paper examines the function of perceived discretion as moderator or mediator variable in this constellation. The relations are examined by using structural equation modelling based on a survey among Swedish welfare bureaucrats (N = 1,319). The results show that heavier perceived workload increased the likelihood of experiencing work with migrants as difficult and that greater perceived discretion decreased the likelihood of experiencing work with migrants as difficult. The results suggest that perceived discretion functions as a mediator for the relation between perceived workload and difficulty in work with migrants: potentially functioning as a ‘buffer’ for organizational pressure. We also found that bureaucrats who hold negative attitudes towards migrants were more likely to express their work with migrants as more difficult. This paper contributes to the public administration literature by increasing our knowledge on how discretion has significance in relation to when bureaucrat's behaviour is determined by specific organizational and personal factors.     

广东省外劳动力流入的动力机制分析与提高其素质的对策

九十年代以来 ,越来越大量的省外劳动力流入广东 ,究其根本原因是本省就业机会的不断增多及省际间收入差距的不断扩大 ,但内流劳动力因其素质低下已成为阻碍广东经济发展的“瓶颈”。因此 ,政府亟待制定出解决劳动力有序流动及提高流入劳动力素质问题的对策     

俄罗斯的独联体劳动移民及相关问题分析

随着独联体经济一体化进程的逐步推进,劳动移民已成为独联体内部移民的主流,且劳动移民的流动具有单向性,即主要流向俄罗斯。俄罗斯境内独联体劳动移民规模的不断扩大引发了一系列经济和社会问题,独联体劳动移民问题成为困扰俄罗斯的一大难题。俄罗斯对独联体劳动移民的接收与拒绝的矛盾心态将构成其对独联体劳动移民政策的基础,限制性劳动移民政策将是其具体表现形式,且限制的内容将有所扩大。     

迁徙自由性质分析

迁徙自由作为公民的一项基本权利,被19世纪近代各国宪法予以确认,其根本原因是为了适应资本主义发展商品经济要求劳动力自由流动的需要,因而一开始它是以经济自由出现的,具有经济自由的性质。"二战"以后随时代的变迁,迁徙自由的内涵得到丰富和发展,由单一性的权利变为复合性的综合性的权利,随之其性质也发生了变化,具有了人身自由、经济自由、政治自由等多重属性。     

中国女性流动人口状况研究

根据2005年全国1%人口抽样调查数据推算,当前全国女性流动人口数量已达到7385万人,占据全国流动人口的半壁江山。本文采用2005年全国1%人口抽样调查数据,对女性流动人口的基本状况及流动特征进行全面分析,为更好的服务女性流动人口提供参考。     

International marriage in East and Southeast Asia: trends and research emphases

This paper gives an overview on international marriage in East and Southeast Asia. It first reviews the available data on the incidence and trends of transnational marriage. It then discusses the factors generally cited as contributing to the rising incidence of international marriage in the region: the increased mobility of population, particularly with respect to tourism, business travel, short-term employment and international study; and marriage market issues in a number of countries of the region, leading to deliberate and targeted search for spouses in other countries. It also reviews the types of international marriages in the region, including the national, ethnic and social characteristics of spouses in such marriages. Finally, it discusses the issues and problems covered and not (or inadequately) covered in the literature of international marriage in East and Southeast Asia in relation to the questions of rights and of the boundaries and sovereignty of the state.     

Migration past and present: changing patterns in Kyrgyzstan

Internal and international labour migration is a main livelihood strategy for many people in rural areas of Kyrgyzstan. It is estimated that approximately one-third of the employable population of Kyrgyzstan is working abroad. However, current labour migration phenomena are not exceptional since Central Asia's history has always been characterized by the movement of people, including external and internal, forced and voluntary, legal and illegal, permanent and temporary, ethnically or economically motivated migration. This article gives an overview of the historical and present migration processes with a special focus on three village communities in rural Kyrgyzstan. It deals with the opportunities and difficulties with which labour migrants and their non-migrating family members are confronted today. The results are based on extensive field work in Kyrgyzstan.     

Producing the ‘transit’ migration state: international security intervention in Niger

Abstract

Despite a growing interest in transit migration and border controls along migration routes, there is relatively little work on the production and operation of the category of ‘transit’ itself. This article investigates how Niger emerges as a country of migration ‘transit’ and what impacts this categorisation has had on security and development interventions targeting the country. Building from the literature on the governance of transit migration and on the ‘migration state’, this article theorises transit as a political label. It argues that Niger’s status as a transit country is constructed through a ‘polyvocal’ process involving the discourse and everyday assumptions of international and local actors. The article locates this shared understanding in official texts, everyday routines, and sub-state diplomatic practices. It goes on to argue that these framings, despite divergent rationales, have effects visible in the evolution of security intervention in Niger. These include shifts in the location of border security, the blurring of migration into other transnational threats, and the creation of new domestic institutional practices. The article contributes to theorising the political construction and specificity of transit-ness and provides a fresh case for the research agenda on inter-state relations around migration governance.     

提高人口统计数据质量的对策研究——以人口迁移统计为例

我国人口统计数据主要来源于日常统计工作报表、统计抽样调查与普查,而关于人口迁移统计数据的采集主要集中于统计部门、公安部门和计生部门。本文通过这三大部门涉及人口迁移统计项目与内容的系统梳理,探析影响我国人口迁移统计数据质量的原因,据此提出提高人口迁移统计数据质量的对策建议。