preview

Dynamics of Change in International Relations Essay

Better Essays

Dynamics of Change in International Relations The Oxford dictionary defines the act of migrating as meaning: “to move to settle to a new area in order to find work.”1 This seems to be presupposing that the primary motivation of migrants is employment. However, as I will go on to highlight, economic social and political factors in various combinations have always affected the various constant waves of migration throughout history2. I will look at how past and modern flows compare and their effects on global society. There are two main issues around migration: firstly how states can control and regulate migration levels. States are after all sovereign and reserve the right to be able to choose who to allow in and out of its …show more content…

It can be argued that this does not allow differences between the host community and the migrant community to close up3. This can lead to implications in the host lands foreign policy with the home land. For example Sikhs from the Punjab were granted leave to settle in the UK during a time when labour was needed in the. However the government could not have foreseen the future political situation where persecution of Sikhs in India would lead them to take Indian Sikhs so that they could flee from persecution and be with family in Britain. Global migration began from regional migration with a colonial impetus to gain more land, jobs, raw materials for the rapidly industrialising Europe so many moved to the “new world” of America and Australia4. There was forced slave labour migration from the West African coast, replaced by indentured labour from other groups like the Chinese until that was banned too to be replaced by a new labour force from the Indian Sub-Continent5. The post war economic slump in the 70’s however led to host land policies which implicitly required the minimising of permanent settler migration opportunities though new areas sprang up in the Gulf and Israel for example. However the world still suffered from a deluge of refugees as conflict and fear of conflict increased significantly in

Get Access