Conceptual Challenges from the New Migration Space

Abstract

The preceding chapter has documented some of the patterns of migration in the Central European region and we can see that these are rather heterogeneous. There are highly paid professionals, lowly paid illegal labourers from Ukraine, refugees of various kinds and so on. One distinctive feature of these migrations is that they are generally for short periods of time only, although visits may be repeated frequently. Hence Okôlski terms them ‘circulations’ rather than migrations and Drbohlav prefers to see them as a complex ‘mosaic’ whilst Stola comes up with the term ‘quasi-migrations’. Some, such as Drbohlav, suggests that these kinds of migration might eventually settle into more familiar patterns of permanent settlement. Others, such as Okôlski claim that this is quite a different kind of phenomenon and is indicative of changing tendencies in migration generally. Whether it is temporary or permanent as a phenomenon, we need to consider how to understand this kind of migration in terms of contemporary migration theories.