Global Forces Precipitating (Im)migration
An array of global, economic, geo-political, and social dynamics have direct implications for the difficult decisions behind (im)migration. These include the precipitous growth in economic inequality between wealthy and low-income communities (OECD, 2016) which create “push” (i.e., absence of jobs and opportunity) and “pull” (i.e., plentiful jobs and differential wage opportunities) propellants to large scale migration (Castles & Miller, 2009). War and conflict–long behind the source of displacement of peoples (e.g., in the U.S.: World War II, the Vietnamese War; in France, the Algerian War) continue to be so today (e.g., the Russian/Ukrainian war). Lastly, and not to be minimized, unchecked climate change and environmental disasters are pushing people out of their homes in unprecedented numbers (McLeman, 2014).(Global Report on Internal Displacement, 2016). Thus, these global forces create conditions for demographic shifts and migration.