Labor migration from Asia to the oil-exporting countries in the Middle East has burgeoned in the last decade to a current level of over two million workers. Because foreign labor contracts have become a potent source of foreign exchange to the sending countries in Asia as well as a safety valve for high unemployment, the export of labor has become

This book examines the flow of Palestinian labour to Israel over the last three decades, and shows how it has fluctuated over time, with, most recently, a shift in the flow towards Israeli settlements in the occupied territories.

During the recent Gulf War, the extent of the migrant worker phenomenon in the Middle East was highlighted by the plight of tens of thousands of Asian and North African men and women fleeing from Kuwait and Iraq. The harrowing images and reports spreading across the world from the hastily constructed refugee camps demonstrated the vulnerability of the economic and social position of this floating labour force, whose living conditions are the subject of this wide-ranging study. The authors of Labour Migration to the Middle East have mainly based their work on labour migrants from Sri Lanka, which shows a number of interesting characteristics when compared to other labour-exporting countries. No less than 1.3% of the Sri Lankan population work in the Middle East, of which 70% are women working mainly in the domestic sector. Solid sociological and anthropological research is the basis for a detailed examination of various social, economic and demographic aspects of the processes of labour migration from Sri Lanka to the Gulf States. The book opens with an introduction to the topic of labour migration, and presents the concept of survival migration, which is considered a main characteristic of the Sri Lankan case. The work goes on to describe the recruiting process and the level of fees which migrants have to pay for a job abroad; the policy of the Gulf States with regard to labour migration; the socio-economic conditions of the Sri Lankan migrant workers; the socio-economic position and religious status of Sri Lankan Muslim women migrating to the Gulf; the impact of labour migration on Sri Lankan society--specifically on social stratification, social mobility, household structure, marriage stability and the well-being of children--and conditions which lead to the early return of migrants. Labour Migration to the Middle East makes an important contribution to the scientific and social reflection on the global phenomenon of labour migration.

One of the most important challenges concerning the future of the European Union is the demographic reproduction of the European population. Decreasing birth-rates and the retirement of the baby boomers will dramatically reduce the labour force in the EU, which will entail not only a lack of manpower but also lower contributions to European social systems. It seems clear that the EU will have to counterbalance this population decrease by immigration in the coming years. Migration Between the Middle East, North Africa and Europe takes this challenge as a point of departure for analysing the MENA region, in particular Morocco, Egypt and Turkey, as a possible source of future migration to the European Union. At the same time, it illustrates the uncertainties implied in such calculations, especially at a time of radical political changes, such as those brought about by the Arab Uprising.

'In this outstanding contribution to scholarship on the politics of migration, Tsourapas shows how migration policies in the Global South are shaped by power and interests. Based on rich historical research, Migration diplomacy unveils the range of strategies used by Middle Eastern and North African states to link human mobility to broader political goals.' Alexander Betts, Professor of Forced Migration and International Affairs, University of Oxford 'Tsourapas provides us with a fascinating analytical framework and argues that the politics of migratory movements can be better understood when looked at through the lens of migration diplomacy.' Ahmet Içduygu, Professor of International Relations and Sociology, Koç University 'Tsourapas has produced a deeply-researched, beautifully written and thought-provoking addition to the burgeoning literature on migration diplomacy. His book is a must-read text for anyone interested in the study of migration, diasporic mobilization and the politics of the MENA region.' Kelly M. Greenhill, Research Fellow, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University How does migration feature in states’ diplomatic agendas across the Middle East? Migration diplomacy provides the first systematic examination of the foreign policy importance of migrants, refugees and diasporas in the Global South. Tsourapas examines how emigration-related processes become embedded in governmental practices of establishing and maintaining power; how states engage with migrant and diasporic communities residing in the West; how oil-rich Arab monarchies have extended their support for a number of sending states’ ruling regimes via cooperation on labour migration; and, finally, how labour and forced migrants may serve as instruments of political leverage. Drawing on multi-sited fieldwork and data collection and employing a range of case-studies across the Middle East and North Africa, Tsourapas identifies how the management of cross-border mobility in the Middle East is not primarily dictated by legal, moral, or human rights considerations but driven by states’ actors key concern – political power.

Although contemporary migration in and from Africa can be understood as a continuation of earlier forms of interregional and international migration, current processes of migration seem to have taken on a new quality. This volume argues that one of the main reasons for this is the fact that local worlds are increasingly measured against a set of possibilities whose referents are global, not local. Due to this globalization of the personal and societal horizons of possibilities in Africa and elsewhere, in many contexts migration gains an almost inevitable attraction while, at the same time, actual migration becomes increasingly restricted.Based on detailed ethnographic accounts, the contributors to this volume focus on the imaginations, expectations, and motivations that propel the pursuit of migration. Decentering the focus of much of migration studies on the receiving societies, the volume foregrounds the subjective aspect of migration and explores the impact which the imagination and practice of migration have on the sociocultural conditions of the various local settings concerned.

In 'International Migration' a multinational, multi-disciplinary group of scholars offer a comprehensive, up-to-date survey of global patterns of international migration which shows that the phenomenon is rooted in the expansion and consolidation of global markets rather than poverty or population growth.