3 International Migration and Its Impacts on Local Development

Prof. Ersin Erkan / Asst. Prof. Hüdayi Sayın

The relationship between development and migration is usually discussed in the framework of the movement of labor from the rural areas to the cities. The impact of migration from rural to urban, agricultural to industrial areas on development has been studied extensively. Therefore, discussions on migration and local development have been usually related to internal migration and discussed against issues such as erosion of agricultural life, unplanned urban development, increased unemployment in cities and disturbed balance in labor markets as a result of migration to cities from the countryside. Reaching massive dimensions since the 1990s, international migration became addressed in local development discussions while deeply impacting the political-ecological system. Massive migration waves triggered by the collapse of the Eastern Bloc, the civil war that started with the division of Yugoslavia, political and economic crisis in many parts of Eastern Europe, Caucasia, Central and South America, Africa, the Middle East and Asia, and finally the Syrian crisis following the Arab Spring exceeded the capacities of national structures.