The Post War Rise in Immigration
Was the post-war rise in immigration solely due to economic factors? Consider at least two European countries and explain your answer.
An immigrant or a non- citizen legal resident could be defined as an individual who decides to move to a country and lives there longer than a period of usually three to six months.
One of the most heavily discussed subjects at a worldwide scale in post-war Europe was immigration, its effects and the rise of this event which was an essential factor when it came to economic growth , deeply influenced by social, political and not the least, economic factors.
Almost 100 million people in the world live in another country, a country other than their own and when it comes to Europe, immigrant percentages were found to be highest in countries such as Switzerland, Austria, Belgium and Germany ( more than eight percent in 1998).
There were two waves of immigration: between 1950 and 1975 ( decolonisation, return migrants and labour migration) and from 1975 to the present day ( a new type of migration, family re-gathering or illegal).
According to Robert Cohen’s well-known written work ‘Contested Domains: Debates in International Labour Studies’, during the post-war period, the majority of the Western countries were encouraging the whole immigration process due to the lack in labour force.
In general, except refugee immigration, the events that took place were due mainly to economic factors, factors such as need for a specific type of workers in the receiving country, income differences, immigration policy of the host country (demand factors). However, non-economic factors were important too: psychological ones such as moving to a different country other than their own, culture and language differences .
In 1945, when World War II ended, the British economy went through a revival mainly due to the massive flow of immigrant labourers. Right after the war ended, new arrivals came from Europe ( large number of displaced people from
An immigrant or a non- citizen legal resident could be defined as an individual who decides to move to a country and lives there longer than a period of usually three to six months.
One of the most heavily discussed subjects at a worldwide scale in post-war Europe was immigration, its effects and the rise of this event which was an essential factor when it came to economic growth , deeply influenced by social, political and not the least, economic factors.
Almost 100 million people in the world live in another country, a country other than their own and when it comes to Europe, immigrant percentages were found to be highest in countries such as Switzerland, Austria, Belgium and Germany ( more than eight percent in 1998).
There were two waves of immigration: between 1950 and 1975 ( decolonisation, return migrants and labour migration) and from 1975 to the present day ( a new type of migration, family re-gathering or illegal).
According to Robert Cohen’s well-known written work ‘Contested Domains: Debates in International Labour Studies’, during the post-war period, the majority of the Western countries were encouraging the whole immigration process due to the lack in labour force.
In general, except refugee immigration, the events that took place were due mainly to economic factors, factors such as need for a specific type of workers in the receiving country, income differences, immigration policy of the host country (demand factors). However, non-economic factors were important too: psychological ones such as moving to a different country other than their own, culture and language differences .
In 1945, when World War II ended, the British economy went through a revival mainly due to the massive flow of immigrant labourers. Right after the war ended, new arrivals came from Europe ( large number of displaced people from
Bibliography: * Bieler Brettell, Caroline; Hollifield, James Frank: ‘Migration Theory: Talking Across Disciplines’, New York and London, Routledge, 2000 * Hollifield, James Frank : ‘Immigrants, Markets, and States: The Political Economy of Postwar Europe’, USA, Harvard University Press, 1992 * Koslowski, Rey: ‘Migrants and Citizens: Demographic Change in the European State System’, New York, Cornell University Press, 2000 * http://www.migrationinformation.org * http://migration.ucdavis.edu