This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under grant agreement No 870661 D2.1 Gaps in Migration Research REVIEW OF MIGRATION THEORIES AND THE QUALITY AND COMPATIBILITY OF MIGRATION DATA ON THE NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL LEVEL Tuba Bircan, Damini Purkayastha, Ahmad Wali Ahmad-Yar, Kathrin Lotter, Chiara Dello Iakono, Daniel Göler, Miko Stanek, Sinem Yilmaz, Giacomo Solano, Özgün Ünver July 2020 http://www.hummingbird-H2020.eu Abstract Migration is humming with activity and fuelled by the changing nature of typologies, geographies, drivers and, more importantly, changing soceities. At the same time, ‘migration’ continues to be a key concern of public and policy debates, especially as intersectional issues of labour rights, citizenship, ethnicity and health inequalities. Alongside the traditional migration categories, new typologies have developed that present particular internal dynamics. The complexity of current migration phenomena, the obstacles in data collection and the limitations in theoretical framework pose challenges for migration studies. Valid, reliable, scientifically driven conceptualisations and arguments on migration are a critical need of the hour – not only for researchers and policymakers, but also for the public whose opinion has a significant role in policymaking. It is important to develop theoretical frameworks and statistical resources that capture the dynamism of migration, the various intersections of identity, economics, globalisation and gender accurately. Ongoing efforts for harmonising definitions and new data sources have contributed to the availability and quality of information on migratory flows. Nevertheless, coherence, consistency and comparability in national and international migration statistics may still be the exception rather than the standard. Today in 2020, although a lot of things have drastically changed, the same challenges and gaps about migration statistics continue to persist. These shortcomings constitute a notable obstacle for researchers and authorities to understand global migration patterns better, develop scenarios, design effective policies, monitor the needs of the population, and to identify how these needs change over time. In the last few decades, there have been multiple attempts by national governments, international and regional organisations, and private institutions to collect better data on migration. However, the existing data on international migration suffers from problems (gaps) of inconsistency in definitions and data collection methodology, lack of adequate statistics, ignorance of new data sources and limitations for comparability, among others. On the other hand, it has also been questioned whether existing migration theories and capture contemporary migration patterns, dynamics and status. Recent changes in the dynamics and modalities of migration have not yet been studied beyond predominant theories and their components. Scholars and international institutions have repeatedly highlighted these issues and insisted on the urgent need for comprehensive, accurate and timely data on migration. In spite of efforts, actual improvements have been limited. The ultimate goal of this report is to critically discuss and identify the contemporary gaps in migration data and to map theories and the contemporary migration reality. This elaborate report comprised three sections: a brief overview of major theories of migration, gaps assessment in theories and data and the theories and contemporary migration realities nexus. The discussion of each part is based on detailed and critical reviews. A final analysis of the different perspectives in each section highlights the findings and recommendations. Main conclusions serve as the updated and detailed list of long-lasting shortcomings of the migration theories and data. Although solution suggestions are not part of the specific objectives of this report, the identified gaps will be the starting point for the assessment and validation of alternative data sources and new methodologies to develop better understanding of the migration scnearios. In addition to that, developed recommendations are a considered process of using findings of this report to help policymakers, data collecting institutes and researchers with making decisions on future actions regarding the improvement of the knowledge on the migration scenarios. This report constitutes Deliverable 2.1, for Work Package 2 of the HumMingBird project. July 2020 © 2020 – HumMingBird, Enhanced migration measures from a multidimensional perspective, – project number 870661. General contact: [email protected] p.a. HumMingBird HIVA - Research Institute for Work and Society Parkstraat 47 box 5300, 3000 LEUVEN, Belgium For more information [email protected] Please refer to this publication as follows: Bircan, T., Purkayastha, D., Ahmad-Yar, A.W., Lotter, K., Dello Iakono, C., Göler, D., Stanek, M., Yilmaz, S., Solano, G., & Ünver, Ö. (2020). Gaps in Migration Research. Review of migration theories and the quality and compatibility of migration data on the national and international level. (Deliverable n°2.1). Leuven: HumMingBird project 870661 – H2020. Information may be quoted provided the source is stated accurately and clearly. This publication is also available via http://www.hummingbird-H2020.eu This publication is part of the HumMingBird project, this project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under Grant Agreement No 870661. Copyright © HumMingBird Consortium, 2019 All rights reserved. No part of the report may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, and may not be quoted or cited, without prior permission in writing from the project coordinator. The views expressed during the execution of the HumMingBird project, in whatever form and or by whatever medium, are the sole responsibility of the authors. The European Union is not liable for any use that may be made of the information contained therein. VERSION CONTROL SHEET Deliverable number + title D2.1 Gaps in migration research. Review of migration theories and the quality and compatibility of migration data on the national and international level Prepared by Tuba Bircan 13 – VUB [email protected] Work package number WP2 Work package leader VUB Dissemination level (PU, CO) PU Delivery date 29/07/2020 Submission date to EC 31/07/2020 Main authors Tuba Bircan, Damini Purkayastha, Ahmad Wali Ahmad-Yar, Kathrin Lotter, Chiara Dello Iakono, Daniel Göler, Miko Stanek, Sinem Yilmaz, Giacomo Solano, Özgün Ünver Reviewers Frederich Heckmann, Ides Nicaise, Pieter-Paul Verhaeghe Contents Introduction 5 Reviewing migration theories 7 2.1 Main migration theories 7 2.1.1 Explaining the initiation of migration 7 2.1.2 The perpetuation of migration 11 2.2 Explaining individual migration decision making 14 2.3 Structure and agency in migration theories 18 2.4 Multilevel analysis in migration theory 21 2.5 Discussion 24 Theories and migration reality 26 3.1.1 Migrations in the 20th century 26 3.1.2 The second economic globalisation (1980-present) 27 3.2 From migration to mobility: the case of European Union 33 3.2.1 The intra-European mobility from the ‘liquid’ migration perspective 35 3.3 Discussion 36 Gaps Assessment 38 4.1 Gaps and challenges in qualitative approaches to migration 38 4.1.1 Definitions, types and drivers in migration theories 38 4.1.2 Going beyond the registered drivers and typologies: an analysis of the differentiation of migration 46 4.1.3 Drivers and policies nexus 56 4.1.4 Demography/gender/hidden populations 58 4.1.5 Geography/space 62 4.1.6 Temporality/timeliness 63 4.2 Quantitative sata sources and assessing the gaps 64 4.2.1 International data sources 66 4.2.2 Data sources on migration policy indices 76 4.2.3 Migrants and migration in the EU Policy Framework Surveys: EU-SILC and LFS 79 4.3 Discussion 83 Conclusion and recommendations 87 5.1 Main conclusions 87 5.2 Recommendations 89 Bibliography 90 4 Introduction Migration has been called a complex phenomenon for decades. However, in recent years it has been pronounced even more so and far more often given the dynamic changes and accelerated mobility across the globe. The nuance in contemporary terminology makes this complexity evident, as the transition from ‘migration’ to ‘mobility’ highlights how movement is no longer one-way and perma- nent/long-term, but rather a multi-agent, fluent and progressive concept. Migration is humming with activity and fuelled by the changing nature of typologies, geographies, drivers and, more importantly, changing societies. At the same time, ‘migration’ continues to be a key concern of public and policy debates, especially as intersectional issues of labour rights, citizenship, ethnicity and health inequalities are exacerbated due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. As migration patterns have changed, the migratory flows have become more complex and less predictable. Alongside the traditional migration categories, new typologies have developed that pre- sent particular internal dynamics. Although international migration theories are divided into theoreti- cal approaches that explain the beginning of migration and others that explain its continuation (Massey et al., 1993: 430), to date there is no single comprehensive theory of international migration. Today, the theoretical framework of international