Towards Understanding of Contemporary Migration - Causes, Consequences, Policies, Reflections

From the reviews: This book will be an important contribution to the production of knowledge on migration in the region. It will represent an indispensable reference to scholars and students of contemporary migrations in particular those interested in the recent developments and their impact within the region of former Yugoslavia, but also beyond. Policy makers and civil society representatives will also find necessary and useful material in the publication. Mirjana Morokvasic-Müller, Institut des sciences sociales du politique, CNRS - Université Paris Ouest Nanterre la Défense The book offers an ambitious and interesting analysis of Balkan migrations. Its main positive aspects might be summarized in the following manner: Theoretical approach. Several collective books prefer national case studies; the editors of the reviewed one have opted for a conceptual ‘entry’ through the key steps of the migration phenomenon – the causes and the consequences of migration flows, as well as their management through migration and integration policies. The fourth ‘entry’ – ‘Reflections’ – is more an intellectual provocation, because critical reflections accompany all the other dimensions of the study of migration phenomena and policies. Interdisciplinarity. The migration studies are interwoven in the border studies with their emphasis on rebordering, extraterritoriality and outsourcing of control. Migration policy has become a securitarian issue and these developments are also adequately treated in several articles. The nexus demography - migration inevitably attracts attention because socialist Yugoslavia is known for the divergent demographic trends among its constituent units. Does migration leads to more convergence is a crucial question addressed in the book. Interscectoriality. The role of migration in crucial policy documents on a large variety of spheres – development, employment, social policy, education, youth policy, etc. – is an interesting analysis and expresses a dynamic and transversal understanding of migration. Anna Krasteva, Centre for European Refugees, Migration and Ethnic Studies, New Bulgarian University Overall, the book is a valuable collection of texts edited by Mirjana Bobić and Stefan Janković. The volume contains a wide variety of approaches and even there are some original ideas. Even I would say one of the great merits of volume is that it dares to incorporate geopolitics, security, military expenditure with migration. This wider perspective has the potential to overcome the simplifying and therefore misleading perspectives which have gained wider publicity nowadays. Attila Melegh, Corvinus University of Budapest