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Migration occurs within a triangle of forces: individual aspirations (including human agency, autonomy, and processes of self-selection), economic forces (including macroeconomic push and pull factors and employers' demand for labor), and institutional goals (of political society and civil society activities). This can result in a tug of war between institutional goals and individual aspirations or of individual autonomy versus public policy. Migration brings about an encounter of sedentary populations and mobile populations and, under conditions of the market economy, it can result in competition over employment and social resources. Occasionally, conflict arises, as is most evident in protectionist, even racist responses to migration. On the other hand, migrants often occupy niches in labor markets, housing markets, and society and often do not compete with indigenous populations. Finally, they integrate and become part of the fabric of host societies.

Normative Challenges. Migration affects nation states' sovereignty, hence a state's capacity to control its external borders and access to (a) its territory, (b) its markets (labor market and housing market), (c) its social systems (public and welfare services), and (d) its political system (democratic processes and institutions). Subsequent matters arising are related to legal status (residency, citizenship) of migrants.

Paradoxes of Globalization. Another set of problems relates to some asymmetries and paradoxes of globalization, notably the enthusiasm over unrestricted global flows of capital, information, and goods in contrast to concerns about the flow of people. While some organizations strive for more liberal and unrestrained flows of goods and capital, other institutions aim to control and limit international migration. And while globalization provides for global migration systems and global movements of labor, facilitates the flow of information about opportunities, and brings about safe and affordable transportation, political society often remains skeptical and aims to restrict movement of people.

Liberal Dilemma. Migration represents a major normative and practical challenge to liberalism and liberal democracies. First, the liberal principles of equality, individual freedom, and freedom of movement are met with restrictive immigration practices and exclusive membership practices of otherwise liberal democracies. Second, international obligations--for example, to take care of refugees--are met by increasingly hostile and deterring national legislations. As a consequence, a liberal dilemma arises that is yet lacking both normative and practical resolution.

Migration, Control, and Development. Neoclassical economists argue that migration once liberalized would result in enormous global economic growth; given equal distribution of wealth, this would in the long run have a reducing effect on migration. Equally, shifting immigration control budgets to development politics could instead reduce the need to migrate. Critical views claim that (skilled) migration from developing world countries is a brain drain, reducing the countries' development prospects. Meanwhile, middle-ground views instead emphasize the advantages of brain gain. Hence, human capital accumulated during a stay abroad and reinvested upon a migrant's return contribute significantly to the sending society's development. Finally, remittances made by migrants contribute more to development than development aid or direct foreign investments.

Political Challenges. Migration is one of the top international policy concerns of our time, affecting politics, international relations, and security measures. However, its determinants and conditions are beyond the scope of politics. Authorities can neither reverse history (e.g., interrupt migration systems), nor can they simply manipulate flows within migration networks once developed. Neither can those economic incentives resulting from unequal development be minimized easily, nor can population trends or climate changes be reversed in the short term. In other words, the capacity of politics to control migration is limited. Recent political trends aim to (a) distinguish between costs and benefits of migration, reduce the former, increase the latter; (b) implement selective policies that aim to attract high-skilled migrants while refusing low-skilled migrants; or (c) manage migration to the simultaneous benefit of sending countries, receiving countries, and migrants.

Migration is an intrinsic, inherent, and inevitable part of grand and continuous transformation processes. The departure and arrival of large numbers of people represent a considerable challenge to both sending and receiving communities and societies. Whether migration as such or ill-prepared social systems and inadequate models of political organization of humanity (nation states) are at the core of the problem, migration has an impact on normative, political, economic, and social dimensions of the affected societies. Consequently, two perspectives address the migration problem: either try to prevent and contain large-scale migration (the predominant and conventional response) or better prepare societies and communities for mobile populations (the constant arrival of newcomers and departure of others).

Bibliography:

1) Castles, Stephen and Mark Miller. [1993] 2003. The Age of Migration: International Migration Movements in the Modern World. Houndmills, England: Palgrave.

2) Cole, Philip. 2000. Philosophies of Exclusion: Liberal Political Theory and Immigration. Edinburgh, Scotland: Edinburgh University Press.

3) Global Commission on International Migration. 2005. Migration in an Interconnected World. Report. Geneva, Switzerland: Global Commission on International Migration.

4) Hoerder, Dirk. 2003. Cultures in Contact: World Migrations in the Second Millennium. Durham, NC, and London: Duke University Press.

5) Jordan, Bill and Franck Duvell. 2003. Migration: Boundaries of Equality and Justice. Cambridge, England: Polity Press.

6) Massey, Douglas S., Joaquin Arango, Graeme Hugo, Ali Kouaouci, Adela Pellegrino, and Edward J. Taylor. 1998. Worlds in Motion: Understanding International Migration at the End of the Millennium. Oxford, England: Clarendon Press.

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