Globalisation has led to an increase in migration both within countries and among them (Edexcel A-Level Geography): Revision Notes
Globalisation has led to an increase in migration both within countries and among them
Globalisation → 🔗 Created major changes in the global economic system, altering the pattern of where there is highest demand for workers and has also encouraged migration within and between countries
↳ More than 270 million people live in a country they were not born in
- Majority of migrants move regionally 📝 (eg. Mexico to US)
National and international migration patterns
↳ Changes in pattern of demand for labour at the national scale are linked w/globalisation
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Core periphery system: The uneven spatial distribution of national population and wealth between two or more regions of a country, resulting from flows of migrants, trade and investment from periphery to core
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Backwash: Flows of people, investment & resources directed from peripheral to core This process is responsible for the polarisation of regional prosperity between regions within the same country Global systems encourage rural-urban migration within countries
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Introduction of mechanised agriculture
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Land grabs by states
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Agribusinesses
Variations on migrant population sizes
↳ 3-4% of the world's population lives outside the country of their birth
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This has not changed much - although international migration is increasing, the size of the world population has also increased ↳ International migration mainly directed towards the developed world (USA, Singapore)
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Proportion of migrants varies depending on the country Due to:
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Differences in levels of political engagement within the global economy
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Amount of inward investment from TNCs
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In order for a state to become deeply integrated into global systems - govs may adopt liberal immigration policies ↳ COVID-19 pandemic
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Drastic ↓ in international migrant flows - countries closed borders to ↓ spread of virus
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Global air travel fell by 60% in 2020
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Rural-Urban migration prevented in some countries due to regional restrictions
Changes to global pattern of migration
📌 Important global migration features (2010-2015)
- Large volumes of intra-regional migration
- Sig inter-regional flows linking N America w/ other regions inc S Asia and Central America Main factor explaining the pattern shown is the uneven distribution of economic opportunity within the global system
↳ As well as migration being triggered by this, it can also create it…
- Brain drain - causes economic loss for the source countries which is only partially offset by remittances
The Future
The Lee Model of Migration
- Migration occurs when the balance of push and pull factors is strong enough to overcome intervening obstacles
- Patterns of migration may change in response to environmental, economic or political change in either host or home areas (or both) ↳ Patterns of migration that globalisation helps drive are likely to change on account of other factors growing in importance
| Environmental change | Economic events | Political events | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Influence | Environmental refugees • climate change → Agriculture threatened 📝Eg. Kiribati migration to New Zealand as low-lying | 2008 financial crisis • resulted in fall in net migration ↳ First time since 1945 net GDP ↓ OR Migration ↑ in Qatar as workers from India etc are moving for construction work for 2022 WC | Political ideals and regime changes sometimes cause ethnic groups to flee states OR Can encourage migration • Canada's welcoming immigration policy |
| Importance | Intensifies rural poverty | Hard to predict future migration flows as proves that migration and globalisation can be reversed | In some areas (N Africa, Central Africa, Middle East) political factors are a more important influence on migration than globalisation |