Globalization and International Migration Governance

Catherine Wihtol de Wenden (1)

1 CERI - Centre de recherches internationales (Sciences Po, CNRS)

With an estimated 214 million international migrants and 740 million internal migrants in a world of more than 6 billion inhabitants, migration now affects the whole planet and has become a major international issue. Nearly all countries are concerned by human mobility, as sending, receiving or transit states. Categories of economic, political or family migrants are no longer strictly defined, as the same people may change legal or social status several times in the course of their life. Over the last thirty years, the world has entered a second major wave of migration, after the first that took place between 1880 and 1920. In recent decades, globalization has facilitated mo- bility while lessening its costs; it has also diffused the way of life in rich coun- tries via the media, encouraged the transfer of remittances (more than 300 billion dollars per year) and led to denser, transnational economic, cultural and religious networks. A growing share of the population has shrugged off determinism by refusing to remain in countries they consider poor and futureless.

Domaines: Science politique

Catherine Wihtol de Wenden. Globalization and International Migration Governance. IMIS Beiträge, 2012, 42, pp.75-88. ⟨hal-01024687⟩