Abstract This study investigates the interactions of forced migrants with state actors in transit countries at critical decision nodal points (DNPs) along their journey—defined as turning points where migrants make decisions about resuming mobility or altering the course of their journey. Granted official legal power by the state, transit state actors operate on the ground in various ways using their power. Nevertheless, their roles in the decision-making as experienced by forced migrants have been studied very little. We examine the journey narratives of forced migrants originating from Eritrea and Sudan. We quantitatively identify and analyze spaces of mobility, immobility and DNPs, within their trajectories. The findings demonstrate that state actors in transit countries can serve as integral and concrete journey components that shape migration outcomes. The study concludes by presenting two insights into (i) the directionality of influence (enabling versus halting journey plans) and (ii) the encounter space (direct-official spaces versus indirect spaces).
Abstract Migration studies have highlighted the crucial role of civil society organisations (CSOs) in the local politics of migration. Less explored is the impact of the material conditions under which CSOs operate. And yet CSOs delivering public services to migrant and racialised populations often rely on public funding which has been significantly restructured since neoliberal welfare reforms in many Western countries in the 1990s. This article examines how funding contexts shape the opportunities of CSOs to influence local policymaking on migration and migration-related change from a cross-country and cross-city comparative perspective. Based on the empirical analysis of four cities in France and Germany and a comprehensive dataset comprising interviews, observations and documents, we argue that funding contexts significantly impact on CSOs’ potential to shape local policymaking. They do so by enhancing and restricting (1) CSOs’ access to spaces of policymaking as well as (2) CSOs’ capacities for political engagement. We demonstrate the mediating importance of specific funding structures and politics at both national and local scales as well as the role of state-CSO relations in manifesting and reproducing these funding contexts.
Abstract Despite intensifying criticism of the concept of integration in the field of migration studies, researchers, practitioners, and policymakers continue to rely on integration as a benchmark to assess the life trajectories of migrants and their descendants in comparison to native populations, shaping policies aimed at addressing disparities. In this paper I use an interdisciplinary perspective to shine a light on the drawbacks of the traditional integration paradigm and to propose quality of life using the capabilities approach as a viable alternative. First, I examine the scientific concerns scholars have raised over decades, including integration as an ill-defined and underdeveloped concept with ambiguous dimensions and more recent normative and epistemological concerns that question the directionality of integration along with its underlying nationalist and colonialist foundations. Then I examine the capabilities approach through the same criticisms. Finally, drawing from a study of people with a migration background in Barcelona, I illustrate how these conceptual flaws become even more conspicuous when the integration paradigm is applied to the descendants of migrants. This empirical demonstration of applying the capabilities approach in migration studies highlights issues like family, discrimination, and violence, that do not appear in a traditional integration assessment.
Dobrosława Wiktor-Mach, Konrad Pędziwiatr, Olena Sobolieva
Abstract Before the full-scale war, Ukraine was one of the key origin countries for migrants seeking to move to the European Union. While considerable research has covered international migration, the understanding of how internal and international migration in Ukraine are interconnected is under-researched. The paper aims to situate the urban dimension at the core of the analysis to discuss the patterns of internal and external mobilities and their interrelatedness in pre- 2022 Ukraine. Drawing upon a recent turn in migration studies towards agency, aspirations, capabilities and decision-making, our research explores the perspectives of individuals who moved to Kyiv from other parts of the country and their future migration scenarios. Based on the fieldwork conducted in Kyiv and in its suburbs, we reveal the fluidity and complexity of migration experience and decision-making as well as the influence of interlinked factors—economic, political, social, and cultural—on mobility strategies. We demonstrate that the city plays a crucial role for migrants aspirations, capabilities and agency in decision making about further (im)mobility although in a nondeterministic way. The paper identifies four main patterns of decision-making processes among the Ukrainian internal migrants who moved to Kyiv: (1) planning to return to their places of origin, (2) considering migration within the country or abroad, (3) deciding to stay in the city and the country, (4) remaining ‘undecided.’ Furthermore, we argue that the strong emphasis on intentions to stay in Ukraine, evident during our fieldwork, has significant implications for migration patterns. This is crucial for comprehending the significant return migration of forced migrants to Ukraine during the war.
Abstract Engagement with institutions from migrants’ country of origin, both in the destination country and in the country of origin, is distinct transnational behaviour. This study investigates the impact of geographical distance on the institutional engagement of migrants from Czechia in five global regions. We examine how geographic (physical) proximity to Czechia shapes institutional engagement with the country of origin and identify factors beyond distance influencing institutional engagement. We analyzed survey data from Czech emigrants (N = 940) in neighbouring countries, Western and Northern Europe, Southern and Eastern Europe, overseas Anglo-Saxon countries, and other countries. We found that respondents from all more distant regions have higher levels of institutional engagement in the destination country than those from neighbouring countries. Length of stay and education were relevant factors for all selected regions, while place of residence (living in a metropolis) and the level of transnational behavior had varying impacts across regions. Concerning institutional engagement in origin country, the level of transnationalism was consistently the strongest predictor across. Transnational studies should incorporate geographic variables, such as physical distance into their conceptual frameworks. We expect our findings to be generalizable to other countries similar to Czechia, i.e. high-income countries whose citizens benefit from liberal visa regimes.
The life strategies of Polish post-accession migrants built after 2004 were based on the specific conditions then prevailing in Poland and the UK. However, conditions have changed over the years and recent events – particularly Brexit and the Covid-19 pandemic – rapidly revalued migrants’ accumulated resources and changed the context of their migration. They have introduced uncertainty about the adopted life strategies, mobilised to once again rethink the future and to make decisions that had often been postponed for many years. The 2018–2021 demographic statistics clearly show an exodus of Poles from the UK from over 1 million in 2017 to fewer than 700,000 by the end of 2021. Despite the correlation of dates, this is not necessarily a result of Brexit or of the pandemic. This article seeks to answer the question of how Brexit impacted on the life strategies of Poles and how could it be a catalyst in their decisions to return to the home country. It is based on qualitative research comprising 30 interviews with Polish migrants in the UK, conducted online in 2020–2021 – thus just after Brexit – and during the coronavirus pandemic.
Colonies and colonization. Emigration and immigration. International migration, City population. Including children in cities, immigration
The purpose of this paper is to define, through content and frame analysis, the peculiarities in the representation of Ukrainian internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Ukraine’s local media and to compare this case with previous findings about the general peculiarities of perceptions of IDPs in the mass media. Two Ukrainian news sites were studied (2014–2018), giving a total 328 news items. My study revealed that the mass media do not differentiate between the terms ‘refugee’ and IDP and describe these latter as passive people (174 mentions as opposed to 77 mentions for active people). However, in the Ukrainian case, IDPs were in the top three of the most popular sources at the beginning of the resettlement (2014–2015). Later, the coverage became an episodic one, with publications about the topic typically having only one source – officials. The mass media preferred such frames as: ‘generalisation’, ‘victim’ and ‘help-receiver’. The ‘threat’ frame was less often used; however, some aggressive and manipulative phrases were disseminated. A ‘criminal’ frame was not at all popular. Thus, the local press may be an important forum for IDPs; Ukrainian journalists were interested in their stories although the coverage needs some improvement (a more ‘active’ angle, clear reference to IDPs as IDPs and not refugees and stories of socialisation etc.).
Colonies and colonization. Emigration and immigration. International migration, City population. Including children in cities, immigration
Father involvement in parenting is an important factor in the process of children’s growth and development.This study aims to explore and find out how fathers are involved in parenting the children with separationanxiety disorder. The qualitative method is employed in this research. This study included structuredinterviews for data collection. Purposive sampling was used to choose participants. Three fathers whosechildren with Separation Anxiety Disorder (SAD) involved in this study. The results showed that theinvolvement of fathers in childcare plays an essential role in the development of children with SAD. Fathershave done a good role in parenting for SAD children, as well as a good relationship between fatherand children with SAD. Fathers have varied activities to stimulate their SAD children, such as positivecommunication comes from fathers to their children. Fathers give good understanding to their childrenand provide follow-up on their parenting participation and involvement. This study contribute to themodel of father involvement in special needs children, especially children with separation anxiety disorder.
Education, City population. Including children in cities, immigration
Significant expansion of legal rights and recognition of sexual minority populations triggered expectations that structural stigma, sexual minority stress and, consequently, previously well-documented disadvantages in health and well-being may decline over time. The empirical evidence on this issue is, however, still sparse and inconclusive. We contribute to this research by comparing baseline data from the German Family Panel (pairfam; 2008-09) and the German Family Demography Panel Study (FReDA; 2021). These data allow us to assess disparities in subjective well-being by sexual orientation and potential changes therein after legalisation of same-sex marriage in Germany in two adult cohorts interviewed more than a decade apart. We focus on two specific outcomes, namely life satisfaction and self-rated health. Two main findings emerged from our analysis: First, minority sexual orientation is associated with significantly lower subjective well-being, specifically lower life satisfaction. Second, there are no statistically significant changes in the sexual orientation-health nexus between cohorts. Our study, thus, neither lends support to “optimistic” expectations regarding the contribution of (further) reductions in institutional discrimination and structural stigma to (further) reductions in remaining disadvantages, nor does it lend support to “pessimistic” expectations suggesting that younger cohorts of sexual minority adults may experience an even larger gap in health and well-being than previous cohorts. We propose that the stability of sexual minorities’ disadvantages in subjective well-being during the first two decades of the 21st century in Germany be interpreted as the result of two opposing forces working in parallel: Reduced institutional discrimination and increased exposure to continued stigma. The legal recognition of same-sex relationships appears to be a necessary but not sufficient condition for the acceptance of sexual minorities. Remaining disparities by sexual orientation will thus not simply disappear when institutional discrimination of sexual minorities is eliminated. Currently, we may therefore find ourselves in a “transitory period” whose further evolution is difficult to predict. FReDA – with its evolving longitudinal dimension and the inclusion of self-reported measures of respondents’ sexual orientation – will constitute a powerful resource for future investigations of inequalities in yet understudied but increasingly visible sexual minority populations.
* This article belongs to a special issue on “Family Research and Demographic Analysis – New Insights from the German Family Demography Panel Study (FReDA)”.
Urban groups. The city. Urban sociology, City population. Including children in cities, immigration
Patrizio Vanella, Arthur L. Greil, Philipp Deschermeier
The COVID-19 pandemic has affected all areas of our lives. Among other outcomes, the academic literature and popular media both discuss the potential effects of the pandemic on fertility. As fertility is an important determinant of population development and population forecasts are important for policy decisions and planning, we need to address to which extent fertility forecasts performed before the pandemic still apply.
Using Monte Carlo forecasting based on principal components of fertility rates, we quantify the effects of the pandemic on fertility for 22 countries and discuss whether forecasts made prior to the pandemic need adjustment based on more recent data.
Among the studied countries, 14 countries show no significant effect of the pandemic at all, while six countries have significantly lowered numbers of births in comparison to counterfactual trajectories that assume that past trends will hold. These countries are primarily in the Mediterranean and East Asia. For Finland and South Korea, there is statistical evidence for increased fertility in the early phases of the pandemic. In all cases with statistically significant fertility differentials caused by the pandemic, reproductive behavior normalized quickly. Therefore, we find no evidence for long-term effects of the pandemic on fertility, leading to the conclusion that pre-pandemic fertility forecasts still apply.
Urban groups. The city. Urban sociology, City population. Including children in cities, immigration
Abstract Empirically identifying the causal effect of social capital on immigrants’ economic prospects is a challenging task due to the non-random residential sorting of immigrants into locations with greater opportunities for prior or co-ethnic connections. Our study addresses this selection-bias issue by using a natural-experimental dataset of refugees and other immigrants who were exogenously allocated to their first place of residence by German authorities. This unique opportunity allows us to make an important methodological contribution to the predominantly observational knowledge about immigration and co-ethnic social capital. Although a growing body of migration studies in economics and sociology stresses the importance of social networks for migrants’ labor market integration, our results show little evidence of a causal effect of social networks themselves. Being part of a larger co-ethnic community per se does not accelerate immigrants’ labor market success except for the migrants who use the resources embedded in their social contacts when looking for a job. We conclude that further methodological advancements can be achieved by embracing recent technological developments and by combining different methods to increase both internal and external validity of findings in migration studies.
Elisabeth Christiana, Budi Purwoko, Wiryo Nuryono
et al.
This study aims to find out how effective classical guidance services are in providing information regarding early marriage to students of SD Negeri Duren, Probolinggo Regency. This research is a pre-experimental research, with one group pre-test – post-test design. Test the hypothesis using the Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test with the help of IBM SPSS statistics 25 for windows. Based on data analysis, the results obtained sig. 2 tailed by 0.012 which is less than 0.05. So it can be concluded that the hypothesis is accepted, that is, there is a difference in the use of the Classical Guidance service model with Cinematherapy techniques for SD Negeri Duren students in increasing information about the phenomenon of early marriage. This study shows that the use of the Classical Guidance service model with Cinematherapy techniques effective in increasing understanding of the phenomenon of early marriage in SD Negeri Duren, Probolinggo Regency.
Education, City population. Including children in cities, immigration
Objectives: Prior research indicates prolonged delays between fi rst parental concern and ASD diagnosis, yet questions remain regarding the diagnostic journey, including characterizing healthcare resource use (HCRU) and costs in commercial healthcare plans.Thecurrentstudysoughttoaddress these informationalgapsin the diagnostic pathway. Methods: A longitudinal analysis (2015-2019) of 1-18-year-olds was con- ducted using Optum ’ s Claims/EHR Dataset. The analysis covered 4 years pre-diag-nosis to date of ASD diagnosis. Time from fi rst concern to diagnosis and ASD-related HCRU and costs were examined. Results: The median delay from fi rst reported ASD-speci fi c clinical feature to diagnosis was 26 months, with ASD-related tests and services starting up to 4 years prior to diagnosis. Pediatricians, psychiatrists, and family medicine were the most common provider types, with of fi ce visits and outpatient hospital as most frequent sites of care. Prior to diagnosis, up to 11% of patients were on ASD-related pharmacotherapies. From fi rst reported ASD-related concern to diagnosis, there was a median ASD-related cost per patient of $3,360, with 85% occurring between screening and diagnosis. Median time between fi rst concernand screeningwas 3.5 monthswith associated ASD-relatedcosts of $479 per patient ($136 per member per month, PMPM). Median time from screening to diagnosis was 21 months with median ASD-associated costs of $2,881 ($137 PMPM). All costs increased annually over the 4-year period prior to diagnosis. Conclusions: Results indicate long delays between fi rst concern and ASD diagnosis and suggest inef fi ciencies in the diagnostic journey. Tools developed to streamline diagnosis in the primarycare setting may reduce these delays. Earlierdiagnoses may result in more children gaining access to early interventions, which are linked to improved outcomes (e.g., cognitive abilities, adaptive behavior) and longer-term savings. Limitations include the under-representation of ASD-related expenditures such as school-based services and out-of-pocket Objectives: Macimorelin is a novel, oral growth hormone stimulation test approved by EMA and FDAfor the diagnosis of adult growth hormone de fi ciency (AGHD). The objective of this study is to investigate the budget impact arising from the introduction of macimorelin as a diagnostic test for AGHD across France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom. Methods: A budget impact model was developed from the health care perspective, using only direct costs, over a 3-year time hori- zon. Analyses were run to compare the macimorelin test against two separate comparators: the insulin tolerance test (ITT) and the GHRH-arginine test. A micro- costing approach was taken to calculate the total cost of each test; estimates of resource utilisation for each test were based on clinical guidelines. Costs included were drug acquisition, treatment administration, nurse time, clinical specialist time and adverse event management. Cost inputs were sourced from national databases and, where available, literature. Results: The results from the budget impact analysis suggest that the introduction of the macimorelin test is associated with reduced resource utilisation and therefore cost-savings for healthcare systems across all countries included in the analysis. This is the case when compared against both the ITT and the GHRH-arginine test. Cost savings are driven primarily by reductions in clinical time taken to administer the test, leading to lower clinical resource utilisation and savings in staff costs. However, savings also arise from an improved safety pro fi le leading to fewer mild and transient adverse events. Conclusions: From a fi nancing perspective, the adoption of macimorelin for AGHD diagnosis represents the best alternative to reduce costs to healthcare systems across the countries considered. The macimorelin test is also associated with fewer adverse events, leading to a potentially better patient experience. Finally, maci- morelin test requires less clinical staff time and may ultimately increase hospital capacity through ef fi cient resource Objectives: This study aims to investigate some potential spatial, socioeconomic and demographicdeterminantsofmunicipalef fi ciencyincombatingtheCOVID-19usingData EnvelopmentAnalysisandGeographicInforamtionSystems. Methods: We test the null hypothesis for the Separability Condition that latitude, longitude, population density, social isolation index and the proportion of Bolsonaro ’ s votes can in fl uence the distribution of inef fi ciencies fordifferent COVID-19 municipalities in Pernambuco,Brazil. The inputsforthecost-ef fi ciencymodelwerethemunicipalcostsforprimaryhealthcareand federal transfers. The output was the number of healthy population. The Moran Index was applied for investigating the spatial concentrations of inef fi ciencies and their re-lationswiththepotentialdeterminants. Results: About2.17%municipalities(4from184 cities)areinput-orientedef fi cientandbenchmarkforCOVID-19best-practices:Calumbi, Jaboatâo dos Guararapes, Recife and Toritama. From the inne fi cient municipalities, 94 score above 0.5 and 86below 0.5 and above 0.09. The mean potential for improvement is a 46.80% reduction in the costs to attain ef fi cient prospects. For the separability condition, the reported p-values for the potential determinants are latitude: 0,491, longitude:0,886,latitudeandlongitude:0,773,SocialIsolationIndex:0,5135,populationdensity:0,896,andBolsonaro ’ s votes: 0,297, all failing to reject the null hypothesis of separability (the exogenous determinants affect the distribution of municipal inef fi ciencies but not the frontier estimation). Medicaid Illicit-use opioid co-morbidity (RIOP) (IOP) minimum continuous enrollment of post-index identi fi ed RIOP and IOP naloxone, state, comorbidities, Results: 845 RIOP 5,633 NY of IOP Medicaid. the highest IOP The and for RIOP and were respectively. for RIOP the cost difference in RIOP and naloxone annual plan savings respectively. Conclusions: the higher CCI scores, RIOP had higher costs. Both RIOP and IOP demonstrated signi cant economic burden, while naloxone lower costs. Future research should explore naloxone co-prescribing bene ts among these
Camila Ferreira Soares, Everton Emanuel Campos de Lima
Brazil’s Bolsa Família Programme (BFP) aims to combat poverty and social inequalities through monetary transfers to families. A much-discussed indirect effect of the programme was its correlation to the fertility of the beneficiary families. In this paper, we use a cohort fertility approach with parity progression ratios that differs from existing literature, which mainly used period fertility measures, to better understand the relationship between fertility and the BFP. This study analyses the relationship between the BFP and the reproduction of Brazilian women. We use data from the 2010 Brazilian micro-censuses, the only census after the start of the BFP in 2004, to reconstruct the childbirth history of women with incomplete reproductive cycles (women aged 25 to 29), and estimate parity progression ratios (PPRs) and cohort fertility rates (CFR). In addition, we estimate propensity score matching (PSM) models comparing fertility outcomes of beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries of the programme. Our results show distinct differences in CFRs and PPRs. On average, BFP beneficiaries had more children than women not covered by the programme. This finding remained consistent even after controlling for educational gradients and other covariates. Our empirical findings show that women opt for a “rational” strategy, where they tend to have children in more rapid succession up until three children. These findings contradict the recent literature that has not found any correlation between BFP and fertility. The results also suggest that cohort analyses may fill certain gaps left by previous studies of period fertility. This paper is one of a few that have analysed the relationship between a conditional income transfer programme and cohort measures in Brazil.
Urban groups. The city. Urban sociology, City population. Including children in cities, immigration
Abstract IMISCOE, it is argued, has played a key role in institutionalising migration studies. This commentary explores the bibliometric data from the opening article of this series to examine this claim more deeply, and finds indications of an ‘IMISCOE effect’. The network is increasingly prominent in the field; it has established a ‘citation community’ among its members; it has been a key part of the internationalisation of the field. Its influence is unlikely to decline, which is also a point of caution, namely, that the ‘IMISCOE effect’ does not belie the diversity of perspectives in migration research that exist within and beyond the network.
This article explores the everyday practice of security management and negotiations for access conducted by Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) in North Kivu, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Based on ethnographic fieldwork, interviews and archival exploration, it examines the experience of MSF Congolese employees, who navigate a complex politics of humanitarian fixing and brokerage. Their role in MSF is simultaneously defined and circumscribed by their political and social situation. MSF’s security management relies on local staff’s interpersonal networks and on their ability to interpret and translate. However, local staff find themselves at risk, or perceived as a ‘risk’: exposed to external pressures and acts of violence, while possibilities for promotion are limited precisely because of their embeddedness. They face a tension between being politically and socially embedded and needing to perform MSF’s principles in practice. As such, they embody the contradictions of MSF’s approach in North Kivu: a simultaneous need for operational ‘proximity’, as well as performative distance from everyday conflict processes.
City population. Including children in cities, immigration
The paper deals with a problem regularly faced by survey studies of patriarchal communities, i.e. communities with a high authority of senior generations and a low level of women’s autonomy. In such communities, female respondents might give untruthful answers to survey questions in order to fit norms which are treated as obligatory or highly desirable in the community. The situation causes a "community bias" in survey results. The task of the paper is to show using the example of a survey concerning reproductive behaviour that the expected "community bias" can indeed occur in patriarchal communities. For this purpose, we suggest a relatively simple method of discovering "community bias" and apply this method to the results of a qualitative survey which we conducted in the rural part of the North Caucasus, a region of Russia where patriarchal social norms are quite strong. A characteristic of the North Caucasus which is important for our study is that its village communities, inhabited mainly by Muslims, differ considerably in the degree to which patriarchal norms are preserved there. The central idea of our method is to study the significance of community parameters of patriarchy for individual answers to survey questions. Community parameters are calculated as averages of the individual parameters of women interviewed in the same village community. Multi-level regression models are run for both the actual and the desired number of children, which allow us to distinguish between individual and community effects. In agreement with the "community bias" hypothesis, community characteristics are found to be significant for answers on desired, but not on actual, fertility. Based on this result, some tasks for future research of the "community bias" effect on answers to survey questions concerning reproductive behaviour are suggested.
Urban groups. The city. Urban sociology, City population. Including children in cities, immigration
This essay critically addresses ten prevailing assumptions about violence: (1) violence is natural; (2) violence comes easily to humans; (3) violence attacks a juridical life; (4) violence is the result of underdevelopment; (5) violence is the result of difference; (6) violence is a sign of absolute power; (7) violence is associated with some death drive; (8) violence can be intelligent through a mastery of technology; (9) the opposite of violence is a just peace; and (10) violence is an assault on the sacred meaning of life. In doing so, it opens up a conversation on the meaning of political violence and makes an impassioned call to free ourselves from sacred myths that bind us to a problem that still appears insurmountable.
City population. Including children in cities, immigration
Abstract Notions, features, and forms of citizenship, understood as legal membership in a state, are changing the world over. While contestations of the monolithic understanding of citizenship generally focus on the content of individuals’ rights and their belonging and participation in social and political institutions, this essay shows that official membership categories that are labeled ‘citizenship’ by state actors vary. Drawing on the experiences of the Overseas Citizenship of India, the British Overseas Citizenship, and Citizenship of the European Union the essay proposes an analytical framework that aims at advancing the comparative study of state membership policies by introducing six key dimensions that policy actors consider when designing citizenship policies. Apart from systematizing the content of citizenship, the framework sheds light on the importance of citizenship terminology, as states employ the label of citizenship and use the status as a vehicle of communication. The essay highlights differences in the construction of special subjects, moral obligations and the exercise of power, analyzes the aspirations of political actors, the political rhetoric, and explores the interplay between tangible rights and intangible narratives. The discussion of the three atypical membership regimes reveals that states operate in grey areas of membership statuses that partly mimic existing forms of state membership and partly push the boundaries of what state membership means. This has significant repercussions for comparative citizenship and democracy theory and the meaning of membership.