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The dynamics of global immigration
“Migration is a “fact of life” and a “force of Good”, UN secretary General Antonio Guterres said while calling for safer options for the millions seeking opportunities to improve their lives in the face of danger and despair.
General pattern
Global immigration is a large-scale topic. Currently, there are an estimated 260 million international immigrants, which account for about 3.5% of the world’s population. The disruptions caused by this seemingly low percentage of migrants is actually overwhelming. Europe and Asia alone host more than 80 million immigrants followed by North America. Unlike as commonly believed, around half of the official international immigration from the South is to other developing countries rather than wealthier countries in the North. The South-South migration is rampant, especially between bordering countries because of lack of border controls; almost 80 percent of the South-South migration is estimated to take place between countries with contiguous borders. Immigration occurs to many countries all over the world. The reasons for immigration could be push factors like armed conflicts, disaster exposure, better living conditions etc. or pull factors such as work opportunities greater security, healthcare and education. The effects of migration is felt largely in cutural adjustments and the economy of the destination Nations, though a similar effect can also be expected to a lesser extend in the source nations too.
Social impact
Immigration has a potential to alter the cultural architecture worldwide spawning a new dynamic of cultural globalization leading to a hybrid world culture. There is a perception that new trends may lead to mostly western culture of consumerism and related traits.
Meanwhile, some others believe that in an interconnected world, cultural differences will become more salient and lead to global cultural polarization. if values and attitudes are ingrained in the immigrants and carried with and spread through them, the international diffusion of culture should follow the international mobility of people. Immigrants can be agents of cultural change, and contribute to the cultural dynamics of the societies they join as and also of the societies they leave as emigrants.
But in reality, in recent times immigrants create cultural cauldrons by changing the composition of host societies through mere mixing, disseminating their values and norms to natives in the receiving countries. It is when those different and new values and norms are not welcome, the immigrants are portrayed as eroding local culture, labelling those who do so as right‐wing populists worldwide. Mixing and dissemination are complex factors made more complex by differing religious beliefs. In a detailed examination of the seemingly cultural discordance in destination countries, one can discern a steadfast belief in the different religions of the immigrants. The problem is when religion dictates values more than personal convictions. This aspect of immigration is glaringly projected in the influx of immigrants into Europe.
Economic implications
Though the welfare impacts of immigration on the destination countries are optically visible there is very limited empirical evidence quantifying the impacts. The most visible economic benefits of immigration in the South are the inflow of labor from South Asia to the Gulf countries. A brief overview of the evidence from the North shows the welfare gains for the destination countries are due to the fact that immigration increases the supply of labor, which increases employment, production and thus GDP. Immigration also improves productivity of the receiving economies by increasing output by freeing up local workforce to move to higher productivity occupations. Like in the USA, immigration contributes to agricultural labor while local workforce can move to industrial shop floors. Yet the impression carried by the destination countries is that immigration results in an economic burden, as immigration is feared to lead to loss of jobs, heavy burden on public services, social tension and increased criminality including drug trafficking. These are seldom supported by data. Job competition that allegedly brings down the wages for the locals, and the increased fiscal burden for caring for a growing population of immigrants are dampeners in the destination countries whose effects are accentuated in times of economic downturns.
Backlash against immigration
The popular cliche “when in Rome, do as the Romans do” was coined by St. Ambrose, a fourth-century bishop of Milan. This simply means that it is best to follow the traditions or customs of a place being visited. In the case of immigrants, “Rome” will mean the destination of immigration. Unfortunately, the immigrants do not follow the advice of St. Ambrose. Wherever there is a backlash against immigration it is noticed that whereas in the USA it is predominantly for economic reasons, in Canda, Europe and Asia it is more because of cultural differences dictated by rigid religious dogmas, resulting in immigration even becoming a campaign issue in democracies.
Tailpiece: Immigration is threatening to overtake terrorism as a major flashpoint in many continents in the ensuing decade even as illegal immigration threatens to increase terrorism worldwide.
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