Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• İcduygu, Ahmet
• Sert, Deniz S.

Titel

Introduction: Syrian Refugees – Facing Challenges, Making Choices

Ist Teil von

• International migration, 2019-04, Vol.57 (2), p.121-125

Ort / Verlag

Oxford: Wiley Subscription Services, Inc

Erscheinungsjahr

2019

Link zum Volltext

Quelle

Wiley Online Library Journals Frontfile Complete

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Analytically speaking, migration involves a series of decisions. Put differently, it requires facing a range of altering circumstances and making choices - both for the migrants themselves, and for the countries that find themselves impacted by migration. The contextual factors that underlie the various types and patterns of (non-forced or forced) migration differ dramatically. Nevertheless, from the perspective of the people who are doing the moving (especially across international borders), a common element is the decision to move itself - which is almost always taken after facing significant (economic, social, political) challenges - plus decisions about where and how to move, and what to do after moving (de Jong and Gardner, 1981; Carling and Collins, 2017). And for migrants or refugees, once the post-migration stage is reached - typically at the end of a difficult journey that has proceeded through many stages - decision-making remains central; in debates over settlement, integration, naturalization and potential re-migration or return. Decision-making is also the concluding theme of receiving countries as they attempt to deal with the flows of migrants and/or refugees. The policy-making process is replete with difficult choices, including how to respond to the various claims of immigrants or refugees who enter, how long they might stay (i.e. permanently or temporarily), what kind of work (if any) they may undertake, their impact on the welfare system or the ability of migrants or refugees to "integrate" into the communities in which they live (Rousseau et al., 2002; Boswell et al., 2011). Needless to say, these decision-making and policy-making processes are all the harder in the context of forced mass movement, compared to voluntary migration.