The focus of my research is on the experience of Cameroonian migrants, and their relationship with the City of Cape Town. This work focuses on agency on the part of the migrant in understanding the mechanisms/strategies they use in their integration process within their host communities. This thesis argues that those migrants with the weakest social position and tenuous links to their home country are forced to live a marginal and precarious existence while those with stronger ties and independent means of existence adopt a transnational existence. There are also those migrants who, having selected and made South Africa their home, have transformed local cultures and attitudes. The latter was the ideal type that drove and motivated this research, for it is through these processes that community members in South Africa can be made aware of the benefits that come with migrants. This is a global challenge and different countries have responded to it in different ways. Through a qualitative method, I argue in the thesis that despite the “otherness” experienced by migrants within their host communities, authority and institutions, migrants lay claims of social belonging in South Africa and as a result through ethnic solidarity embedded within their Home Town Association - defensively combine as a strategy for existence within their host communities.

International labor migration has become an increasingly common livelihood strategy in rural Cambodia, in some villages becoming a defining and normative part of community life. This dissertation is an ethnographic study of one such rural community, where migration to Thailand has become a primary livelihood strategy over the past decade. Drawing on three years of fieldwork in Chanleas Dai, a commune (khum) in Northwest Cambodia, my research explores the complexities of the migration decision-making process, and the meanings of migration for rural households. This work is motivated by debates within the dialogues of migration and development, most of which seek to understand the potential for migration to promote development by focusing on the impacts of migration. My work departs from previous studies by focusing explicitly on decision-making, seeking to understand how and why families make developmentally important migration decisions. This is a critical area of inquiry, as the potential that migration has to promote or sustain development rests on a series of individual choices, for example who migrates, or how households invest remittances. Yet research tends to focus on the outcomes of these choices, neglecting a sufficient understanding of why they were made. In Chanleas Dai individuals are deeply ambivalent about migration, understanding it as both a constituent cause of insecurity and also the best path to security, mobility, and status. Whereas migration is perceived as low-risk and high-reward, village-based livelihoods are widely perceived as insufficient, impossible, or too financially risky to be meaningful. These perceptions are strongly linked to the recent history of environmental distress in the area. As a result, households often prioritize investment in further migrations, rather than using wages earned abroad for local investment or production. This is particularly true among youth, who see few potential worthwhile strategies to "make it" at home. Credit and agriculture programs theorized to curb migration, and/or promote local investment have not substantively challenged these perceptions. My conclusions discuss these findings in terms of their implications for the migration and development dialogues, definitions and understandings of development, and rural development policies both within and outside of Cambodia. / text

This is a thesis about knowing, working and migrating in a complex and fluid world. Through an analysis of biographic-narrative interviews with migrants working in 'knowledge intensive' roles, as well as with those employed in jobs normally considered 'low-skilled', arguments about knowing, working and migrating in the 'new knowledge economy' are developed. Foregrounding an active and embodied understanding of knowing as a socially embedded and fluid phenomenon allows for a reconceptualisation of the relationships between knowing, migrating and working, raising questions about our normative understandings of both the 'knowledge' economy and divisions of migrant labour. This thesis seeks to illustrate how everyday practice and the interaction of complex (and often competing) 'forces' have acted to produce powerful ideas about what kind of jobs are suitable for which types of migrants, and how these ideas become accepted as normal – as 'common sense' assumptions. Furthermore, such productions of knowledge about migrants, also impacts on how, what and where we know. That is, the processes and performances of knowing are both constitutive of, and constituted by, the structures of power which shape our lives. Thus the 'power to know' is contextual, fluid and yet fundamental to the constitution of our everyday lives.

The role of political discourse in the communication of security issues is fundamental to the Copenhagen School’s framework of securitization. In their work, Security: A New Framework for Analysis (1998), the Copenhagen School set out to challenge traditional International Relations theory by questioning the primacy of state-centric approaches that narrowly focus on military aspects of security. Whilst broadening the areas of security to include economic, societal, political and environmental threats, they also proposed that threats are articulated through the “speech acts” of mainly political elites. By signaling threats discursively via “securitizing moves”, political elites inform the audience of the existence of security threats. However, the Copenhagen School fails to address the political partiality of such pronouncements. The focus of this analysis is to examine the persuasive discursive practices employed by political elites to encourage audience consent with a specific focus on political elite portrayals of inward migration in relation to security. In their work, “Identity, Migration and the New Security Agenda in Europe” (1993), the Copenhagen School outlined a nexus between security and transnational migration within a Western context. Using content analysis and critical discourse analysis methods, this analysis will provide a comparative cross-national study of how migration is constituted as a security threat. By analysing political elite discourse as presented in speeches and as recontextualised in media portrayals in two major South East Asian receiving countries, Malaysia and Singapore, this thesis assesses the applicability of the Copenhagen School approach in alternative locations. Adopting a thematic approach, it examines how migrants are depicted via political discourse as threats to societal, economic and political security and how the feminization of migration in recent years has been depicted as a security challenge. A cross-national comparison of political discourse relating to the migrant/security nexus reveals not only how discursive formulations of security by political elites are constructed in order to legitimise policy and practices, but how similar issues may be addressed differently. Both Malaysia and Singapore have a long history of immigration, which is reflected in their diverse multi-ethnic, multi-racial and multi-cultural societies. Geographically co-located and with a shared historical legacy, both have become increasingly dependent on migrant labour to support economic growth and receive relatively large intakes of migrants from neighbouring countries. Yet, there are significant differences in how migrants are depicted in relation to security. Challenges are proposed to the framework that the Copenhagen School propounds. Moreover, I contend that the constructed nature of political discourse allows the potential for a more nuanced and normative discourse that could desecuritize migration and focus more positively on its benefits and upon alternative non-elite perspectives of security.

A bicultural approach to the politics of settler-indigenous relations, rapidly increasing ethnocultural diversity and its status as an ex-British settler society, make Auckland a fascinating and complex context in which to examine contemporary British migrants. However, despite Britain remaining one of the largest source countries for migrants in Aotearoa New Zealand, and the country's popularity as a destination among British emigrants, contemporary arrivals have attracted relatively little attention. This thesis draws on twelve-months of qualitative research, including in-depth interviews with forty-six participants, photo-elicitation with a smaller group, and participant observation, in order to develop a nuanced account of participants' narratives, everyday experiences and personal geographies of Auckland. This thesis adopts a lens attentive to the relationship between the past and the present in order to explore British migrants' imaginaries of sameness and difference, national belonging, place and ‘the good life' in Aotearoa New Zealand. First, through attention to the ‘colonial continuities' of participants' popular geographical and temporal imaginaries of Aotearoa New Zealand, and the lifestyles they associate with it, this thesis is part of growing attention to historical precedents of ‘the good life' in international lifestyle migration literature. Secondly, by examining participants' relations with Māori, other ethnicised groups, bi- and multiculturalism, I expand on whether these migrants' invest, or not, in ‘the settler imaginary' (Bell 2014). In doing so, I bring crucial nuance to understandings of ethnic and cultural difference, and settler-indigenous relations, in globalising white settler spaces. As neither fully ‘them' nor ‘us' (Wellings 2011), British migrants occupy an ambiguous position in ex-British settler societies. Finally, I examine participants' notions of shared ancestry and of cultural familiarity with Pākehā, and, in doing so, problematise the notion of Britishness as a natural legacy or passive inheritance in this context.

This thesis deals with the historical evolution, social networks, and – above all – the political participation of Italian citizens who are resident in London. The value of my research stems from an increasing interest – evident in the literature – in migrant transnational identities and in the political participation of migrant groups both in their home and host countries. Also relevant is the growing importance of London as a destination for Italian migrants. The study adopts a theoretical framework based on political opportunity structure and on the construction of social and community identity. It deploys a mix of methods that involve a questionnaire, ethnographic methods such as open and semi-structured interviews and participant observation, and some elements of discourse analysis, in order to analyse the social and political activity of three components of the Italian communities who are resident in London: the “old” migrants who arrived in the UK between the end of World War Two and the late 1970s; their descendants, the British-born Italians; and the “new” migrants, who have moved to London since the mid-1980s. Comparison across these three waves produces important insights into the development of Italian identity in London over more than half a century. In the three main empirical chapters the thesis examines (1) what characterises the Italian presence, in terms of socio-economic characteristics and identification; (2) how an Italian institutional and associational network, active in London, influences the building of a collective identity in the Italian communities and helps mobilise them; and (3) to what degree and how London Italians think they may contribute to political, social, and cultural change in their home and host countries. The primary data that I present show that belonging to one of the three generational groups outlined above has a great impact on the ties with both the UK and Italy and, in particular, with the Italian institutional and associational network in London; that this network plays an important role in the emergence of a new discourse on “Italianness” among recently arrived Italian migrants; that different forms of Italian identity are constructed and performed by Italians from the three different groups in their interaction with the social and political opportunity structure they experience in London; and finally that all this affects local and transnational political loyalties and behaviour.

This thesis is the result of ethnographic research conducted in a sending community in the state of Hidalgo, Mexico. This study calls into question the stereotypical view of Mexican women as passive and traditional. There are several conclusions reached during this study. First, the results reject Menjivar's (1999) and Levitt's (1998) argument. In the community studies, an unfulfilled economic or emotional absence encourages women to challenge the system of practice of Nurangi (participation in the labor force) even in the absence of a migration experience. Second, the analysis shows that contrary to our hypothesis, the physical absence of the male is not a trigger mechanism for women's participation in the labor force. Third, women from both migrant and non-migrant related groups have increased their human capital. However, migrant and non-migrant related women who participated in market activities not only expanded their human capital but also gained an economic and emotional benefit. Finally, the interviews have also shown that contrary to some literature that views Mexican women as passive and subordinate agents, the women in the Nurangi community are active agents, and what is sometimes perceived as a static gender division of labor is rather a fluid.

This thesis is the result of ethnographic research conducted in a sending community in the state of Hidalgo, Mexico. This study calls into question the stereotypical view of Mexican women as passive and traditional. There are several conclusions reached during this study. First, the results reject Menjivar's (1999) and Levitt's (1998) argument. In the community studies, an unfulfilled economic or emotional absence encourages women to challenge the system of practice of Nurangi (participation in the labor force) even in the absence of a migration experience. Second, the analysis shows that contrary to our hypothesis, the physical absence of the male is not a trigger mechanism for women's participation in the labor force. Third, women from both migrant and non-migrant related groups have increased their human capital. However, migrant and non-migrant related women who participated in market activities not only expanded their human capital but also gained an economic and emotional benefit. Finally, the interviews have also shown that contrary to some literature that views Mexican women as passive and subordinate agents, the women in the Nurangi community are active agents, and what is sometimes perceived as a static gender division of labor is rather a fluid.

Immigration has become an increasingly salient issue across Europe in recent years. However, much of the existing economics literature focuses on the impact of immigration on labour markets. In order to gain a more complete understanding of the impact of immigration on a host country, it is important to take a broader perspective. In this thesis we investigate some of the wider effects of immigration on host countries and their native citizens. The thesis contains three self-contained chapters, each of which tries to establish the causal effects of immigration on a separate socio-economic aspect of the host country. Chapter 2 investigates the causal link between migration and trade flows. We exploit the large, exogenous increase in migrants to the UK as a result of the 2004 EU enlargement. In contrast to the standard gravity model approach, we use a difference-in-differences estimation strategy, which enables us to compare changes in UK trade flows with accession countries to changes in UK trade flows with other central and eastern European countries. At the product level, separating goods according to their informational content using the classification put forward by Rauch (1999), we find evidence that UK imports from accession countries increased, and that this was driven by differentiated goods. In Chapter 3 we investigate whether the proportion of migrants in a local area affects the success of an anti-immigration political party. Using Swedish municipality-level data, we focus on the impact of large inflows of migrants, many of whom were refugees, from non-OECD countries in the 1980s and 1990s. In order to address concerns over the endogeneity of migrant location, we exploit a refugee placement policy which aimed to disperse refugees across the country. Initial OLS estimates suggest that a one percentage point increase in the migrant share is associated with a 0.28 percentage point increase in the New Democracy vote share. However, we do not find evidence of a positive relationship between the arrival of refugees and the New Democracy vote share in our 2SLS estimation. Further analysis suggests that our OLS results are driven by municipalities surrounding the three major urban areas of Stockholm, Gothenburg and Malmo. In addition, we find no evidence that natives responded to an influx of migrants by relocating to another area. In Chapter 4 we examine the relationship between immigration and house prices. Focusing on the case of England and Wales, we exploit variation in migrant inflows across local authority districts to identify the effects of migration on changes in house prices. We build on existing papers by conducting the analysis at the local authority district level which enables us to better account for unobserved local level characteristics. In addition, we then exploit data on the postcode of each individual housing transaction in an attempt to better control for housing quality. In our OLS specifications we find no conclusive evidence of any relationship between migrant inflows and changes in house prices. We then address endogeneity concerns by using an instrument based on historical settlement patterns. Although our 2SLS estimates suggest that a 1% increase in the migrant share is associated with a 2.4% fall in house prices, we show that this effect is driven by local authorities in London, and that our instrument based on historical migrant settlement patterns is weak and fails to fulfil the relevance requirement for local authorities outside of London. These findings cast doubt over the suitability of the shift-share instrument for addressing endogeneity concerns in this setting.

The general problem of the morality of borders is to determine what kind of borders liberal democracies ought to have. This in turn raises two particular problems. First to determine the nature of states entitlement to control the administration of political and territorial borders and second, to determine what constitutes to exercise this entitlement in fair terms. This thesis is devoted to the first particular problem. I distinguish two kinds of approaches to legitimate border control: justice-based accounts and legitimacy oriented accounts. I argue that justice-based accounts are inappropriate to frame and address the legitimacy problem of borders because they typically merely assume that a set of institutions apply to those over whom coercion is exercised. But these accounts never provide an explanation about why we (and not others) have legitimate rights over territorial borders. This standard objection shows that these views fail to reach the boundary problem, but it does not say why. In this thesis I advance an explanation. I say that justice-based accounts are unfit to address problems of borders. The idea is that justice-based is a simplified account tailored to the problem of public justification, but this simplification has removed the traits relevant to reach the boundary problem. In contrast I introduced legitimacy-oriented accounts of borders. When legitimacy is not about justice and the problem of public justification of coercion, it is about integrity and the assessment of political power from the point of view of distinct political virtues such as fairness, democratic participation, due process, and justice. Legitimacy as integrity performs a division of labour between distinct conceptions of legitimacy in order to justify political power as a whole including the kind of power that borders exercise. But integrity of international basic institutions like borders point out to porous borders as the appropriate case for liberal democracies.