Abstract
“Migration is closely interwoven with human history”—the saying sounds like a cliché but it surely remains valid. Time was when cross-border migration was relatively free and unfettered. Military conquests, armed conflicts, famine, pestilence, natural disasters and the like shaped the course of human mobility. Things changed in 1648 when the Westphalia agreement was signed and the concept of sovereignty of nation state was embodied in international law and started gaining ground in state practices. Cross border human mobility became a subject of inter-state negotiation and agreement. And, with the rising trend in economic globalisation, including expansion of trade in goods, services and capital, nation states felt compelled to cooperate in managing cross-border migration to enhance their respective interests, and contribute to global wealth. But not infrequently, the process also entails difficulties.
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Notes
- 1.
For a discussion on the superiority of regulated openness over unfettered open borders see Bimal Ghosh, “Managing Migration: Towards the Missing Regime” in Migration without Borders, UNESCO, Paris 2008.
- 2.
This is unlikely to be the case. Experience shows in Sweden foreigners are 2.6 times more likely to be out of work.
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Ghosh, B. (2021). A Global Migration Agreement: Why So Important, Yet Why So Elusive. In: The 2018 Global Migration Compact. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-82863-9_1
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