Metoikos (completed)
Circular migration patterns in Southern and Central Eastern Europe: Challenges and opportunities for migrants and policy makers
Anna Triandafyllidou (European University Institute, Florence)
Circular migration between Ukraine and Hungary: Border zones, historical legacies and entangled policies
Ayse Caglar
Circular migration has increasingly become more readily acceptable by EU constituencies that are wary of the long term burden of integrating migrants not only in the labour market but also at the social and cultural level. It has been singled out recently by the EU and member state governments as one possible option that could maximise the benefits of economic migration and minimise its costs. These migration patterns are thought to avoid brain drain for developing countries in the EU neighbourhood and rather encourage brain circulation and investment back in the country of origin of social capital, human capital, and economic capital.
METOIKOS studies the links between different types of circular migration and processes of integration and re-integration in the countries of departure and settlement. This particular project at MPI focuses on ‘circular migration’ between Hungary and Ukraine. On the basis of fieldwork conducted in both countries, it aims to
- investigate bottom up circular migration processes, the migrants’ and the policy makers’ experiences and views on policies of mobility and integration
- identify the main challenges and opportunities involved in ‘circular’ migration for these countries, migrants and their families
- raise critical questions about the concept of ‘circular’ migration and develop new conceptual instruments for the analysis of recurrent migration patterns and incorporation processes they facilitate
- explore the temporalities of migration and border policies, the legacies of the border zones and the entanglements between diaspora and migration politics both in Hungary and Ukraine.
- develop policy recommendations for local, regional and national policy makers regarding this type of migration
- reflect critically on the categories of migration scholarship anchored and developed in close relation to the particular histories and experiences of migration to Western Europe
On the basis of a study of ‘circular’ migration between Ukraine and Hungary, this project will seek to frame these migration patterns and the impact of EU policies on them in relation to the historical legacies, different registers of mobility policies between these countries, as well as to the location of places of departure and destination of migrants within Hungary and Ukraine.