Marek Okólski

A Continent Moving West? : EU Enlargement and Labour Migration from Central and Eastern Europe

A Continent Moving West? argues that the conceptualization of migration as a one-way or long-term process is becoming increasingly wide of the mark. Rather, east-west labor migration in Europe, in common perhaps with other flows in and from other parts of the world, is diverse, fluid, and influenced by the dynamics of local and sector-specific labor markets and migration-related political regulations.

Incomplete Migration: a New Form of Mobility in Central and Eastern Europe. The Case of Polish and Ukrainian Migrants

In recent decades we have witnessed the diversifying and, in many regions, intensifying flows of people across the globe (for example, Zlotnik, 1998 and Okolski 1999b). One of the distinct elements of those flows is the movement of temporary migrants, a substantial proportion of whom are undocumented.2 Remoteness, in terms of physical distance, seems less than ever an obstacle to mass temporary migration. In fact, in view of relatively limited opportunities for settlement migration between countries, migrants increasingly choose to focus on one particular aim: namely, earning money in the host country and spending it in the home country. Migrants do not have to stay abroad long to realise this aim. On the contrary, in many instances it may well be achieved within the period of the validity of a tourist travel document, especially when a visa-free regime for tourists is in operation.3 We might term this ‘incomplete migration’.

Recent Trends and Major Issues in International Migration: Central and East European Perspectives

Until the late 1980s Central and Eastern Europe was a region relatively isolated from the other parts of the world. Flows of people between the countries, even inside the region, were rather small and sporadic, due to administrative restrictions on foreign travel. Contrary to what was feared in the West around 1990, it has not been flooded by East Europeans newly equipped with the freedom of movement. Indeed, the out-flow of groups such as ethnic minorities, political opponents, and elites, has diminished. Nevertheless, at least three very dramatic and partly unexpected migration movements have occurred in the region. First: an unprecedented intensification of international flows within the region. Second: an influx of people from outside the region. Third: westbound transit. These three phenomena have a direct and sometimes con-siderable impact on the countries undergoing the migration flows, provoking in them particular political responses.

Recent Migration in Poland: Trends and Causes

In this paper I focus on the basic characteristics of international population movements observed in Poland since 1989 and the principal determinants of those movements. The goal of this paper is to highlight the distinctiveness of recent migration relative to past trends. In order to achieve this, the analysis proper is preceded by a brief and highly selective description of the essential characteristics of these past movements.

Migration Pressures on Europe

International migration is a subject of study where the interests of many disciplines meet. For demographers, migration is above all and most naturally the mass phenomenon of the movement of people across geographical space, provided that population size or structure (or, in other words, population reproduction) are significantly affected. Simple as it may seem, migration is by no means easy to define and operationalise. What hampers attempts at formulating a plausible and sound definition is the lack of a clear-cut understanding of the movement itself, or, more specifically, confusion surrounding its two principal dimensions: distance and duration. Moreover, migration -inter alia due to its integrally double-ended character (movement from the region of departure to the region of arrival) and its metamorphic character (e.g. an instant change of the intended settlement in an alien geographical region into a return to the place of origin)- might be perceived as a process rather than an event. Unlike other basic demographic phenomena such as birth, death or even the formation of a conjugal union, migration occurs in a time interval (sometimes of considerable duration), rather than at a particular moment in time.1

Demographic Processes Before and During the Ongoing Transition in Poland

Since 1989, most of Polands main demographic trends have changed. These changes took place almost instantly with the introduction of basic political and economic reforms. The demographic reactions were of three types: reversal of a trend direction, substantial acceleration or deceleration of a trend, and discontinuity of a trend. In this article, three basic hypotheses are considered. The first suggests that demographic trends returned to a smooth course in the (still unfinished) demographic transition. The second hypothesis holds that the demographic change observed since 1989 has been the manifestation of a direct but temporary adaptive reaction to drastic social change. Finally, it is hypothesized that with the transition Poland has opened up to cultural change imported from the West in the form of postmodernity. The analysis suggests interpretations of the demographic change that fit all three hypotheses.

The Polish Economic Crisis: Background, Causes and Aftermath.@@@Stabilization and Structural Adjustment in Poland.

In order to understand the dramatic events of 1989 it is necessary to examine the circumstances leading up to them. The Polish Economic Crisis examines the primary factor. The author analyses how the severe recession of the late 1970s and early 1980s intensified the need for economic reform and resulted in the economic slump of the 1980s. Batara Simatupang concentrates on the effects of this period on the Polish people that proved to be a major pre-condition for the revolution of 1989 and influenced events in Eastern Europe as a whole.