The Impact of Migration on Gulf Development and Stability
Robinson College, University of Cambridge, UK
Gulf States have the highest proportion of migrant workers in the world. Conversely, global migrants see the Gulf States as a major magnet, the third largest in the world after the European Union and North America. By contrast with its overwhelming importance for economies and societies, migration to Gulf States is under-documented and under-researched and the Gulf does not have the place it would deserve in migration studies. The main goal of this workshop will be to gather international expertise on migration to the Gulf with the aim of addressing the impact of migration on Gulf development and stability. Another aim will be to start building the Gulf migration studies community. A by-product of the workshop may be an edited volume. The workshop will be multidisciplinary and open to all the disciplines that are relevant to migration studies, such as political science, economics, demography, law, contemporary history, sociology.
Topics for the workshop
The workshop will address past and current trends and policies as well as scenarios for future changes. It will envisage migration from the following points of view:
Describing migration:
- Levels and trends
- Patterns: countries of origin, type of migration (work, family, study and asylum), modes of recruitment, duration of stay, legal status, trafficking...
- Migrants' profiles: demographic, education and skills, employment
- Etc.
Appraising the consequences of migration:
- Benefits and costs for host countries in the Gulf
- Development of origin countries
- Migrants' condition.
- Etc.
Assessing the governance of migration:
- Sustainability of migration patterns
- Policies of gulfization of the workforce
- The sponsorship system
- Etc.