How did immigration become such a predominant trend in the world? Is it waxing or waning in 2020, and what are the long-term trend lines? Naren Nath attempts to answer some of the questions related to human movement with profound effects on the shape of the world to come
Few sociological trends have had a bigger impact on state of the world today than immigration. Look around and you see its effects everywhere. Countries across the globe are becoming melting pots. Populaces in nation after nation are becoming distinctly more diverse. Colleges and universities the world over are becoming more international, with increasing immigrant representation on campus. Doctors and other professionals are increasingly from immigrant backgrounds. Major companies are now being run by immigrants from other countries. Even Olympic athletes and other sports stars often hail from countries other than those they represent. You can see evidence of diaspora all around the world.
Why is this so? How did immigration become such a predominant trend in the world? To understand immigration, you have to first understand the immigrant. Who, exactly, is an immigrant? Well, look in the mirror. Do you find yourself in a city or town other than where you grew up? Did you happen to move to a better place for a better livelihood, or living conditions, or environment for you and your family? Did you adapt to new conditions, new environments, new neighbours and communities, perhaps even a new language, to make your transition more effective, and to fit in better? If you did, you are an immigrant at heart! You already understand and appreciate where the immigrant spirit comes from, what the underlying motives are behind it, and what makes for a successful immigration experience.
Immigration is nothing but this spirit playing out across national boundaries. This is and always has been the clarion call of immigration to people at large. The quest for a better life. For safety. For real emancipation. Fur the well-being of future generations. For greener grass. These urges and aspirations are as fundamental as life itself. Pure Darwinian adaptation and evolution at work. These are such powerful motivations that they propel immigrants to take leaps of faith, sometimes even taking inordinate risks, to make it to their promised lands.
From time immemorial, the world has seen many flavors of what can broadly be termed immigration. There was immigration in small trickles. There was immigration en masse. There was immigration that was largely peaceful, and immigration that entailed the use of overwhelming force. You could look at the mega invaders and conquistadors of the past, and classify them in two categories — those that invaded and ravaged and left, such as an Alexander the Great and a Genghis Khan, and those that stayed and built societies, such as the Aryans and the Moghuls in India. Then there were the European colonizers — English and French and Dutch and Spanish — colonising entire continents from Asia to Africa to South America. They were propelled by the immigrant spirit too, just happened to have sufficient economic and military might to take charge by force. And then there were people forcibly brought to foreign lands to serve as slave or bonded laborers, for instance in the Caribbean and Fiji, and of course the United States of America.
These were all different flavours of immigration. They all entailed mass movements of a people from their native land to another, and they brought with them their own variations of motivations, dynamics, trajectories and assimilations. The underlying factors, however, were always the economic, social, lifestyle and political empowerment and emancipation of the groups in power.
While there were many trials and tribulations, and triumphs and tragedies associated with immigration, one of the great success stories is often considered the United States of America. It is a country that is proud to call itself a nation of immigrants. It was founded in its current form by the most famous group of immigrants in the world who left what they believed to be the tyranny and persecution of the British monarchy to create a new nation founded on profoundly democratic ideals and principles. Ever since, America has opened its doors to immigrants from around the world, and become a beacon of hope and prosperity for the world that has attracted millions of immigrants to its shores.
Many other countries also saw significant rises in their immigrant populations during this time. Many of the colonies of the European powers, such as India, Pakistan, Algeria, Senegal, Mexico, and Brazil saw large swathes of people moving to their respective colonial lands. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Eastern Europe saw a surge of immigrants moving westward in search of better lives. Economic hardships in Central and Latin America saw significant immigration towards the prosperous North. And war-torn suffering and economic hardships saw poignant and sometimes tragic immigration from Syria and the Middle East into Europe and elsewhere.
While immigration has been a global phenomenon for centuries, in the last forty years it has seen a decided acceleration. The biggest reason for this is the consumer revolution and ensuing consumer empowerment brought about by the instant access to information and connectivity now afforded to billions of people around the globe. This has enabled unprecedented visibility and exposure to life in more prosperous countries with substantially elevated standards of living. Ironically, while the world has gotten better connected, it has also undergone a substantially widening economic disparity, with an ever-decreasing minority of the population possessing an ever-increasing proportion of societal wealth. This further reinforces the gap between haves and have nots, propelling the latter to venture out to foreign lands to seek better lives.
So extensive has global immigration been that it is starting to become a victim of its own success. The increasing scale of immigration and its after-effects are now starting to create significant social, economic and political stresses. While the motivations to immigrate remain as pure and profound as ever, these stresses are now beginning to create fault lines in destination countries. As the influx of immigrants gets larger and larger, receiving countries are beginning to grapple with its impacts and implications. Economic hardships of the local populace are beginning to get attributed to immigration. Crime and scarcity of public resources are often blamed on immigrants who are portrayed as using up national resources and not adhering to the laws of their adopted lands. Loss of cultural identity and conformity, including dilution of national languages and religious values are often pinned on immigrants. Drugs and diseases often have fingers pointing at immigrants too. A case in point is the current novel Coronavirus, increasingly attributed to immigrants from China carrying it to their adopted countries and regions.
These fault lines have given rise to massive nationalistic movements around the world. Starting with the modern mecca of immigration, the United States, significant forces are now questioning the merits and modalities of immigration, while others are questioning their ethics and moralities. There is a dramatic retrenchment of immigration policies at work, in particular when it comes to illegal immigrants, who while driven by the exact same motivations, haven’t yet found the time or resources or circumstances to come in via the legal route.
Emboldened by this credible challenge to a wide-open immigration policy posed by the flag bearer of immigrant nations, other countries are following suite. In the United Kingdom, one of the biggest motivators of the Brexit movement was the disenchantment and even perceived threat from immigrants. Even in the most progressive and pro-immigration nations of the world, such as France, Germany, and the Scandinavian countries, the tide of immigration beliefs and policies has been turning, with the emergence of conservative, nationalistic forces and political power.
What happened here? How did we go from a laissez faire, open door immigration mindset to this dramatic push back and retrenchment towards nationalistic orientation?
To understand this, you have to go back to the core dynamic of the immigration experience itself — on all parties. Being an immigrant is a bit like being a guest. There are ways to be a good guest and ways to be a bad one. For instance, you show up as invited under the guidelines established by your host. If you show up unannounced via the backdoor you won’t be as welcome! Also, the host will appreciate and incorporate you more if you bring a skill or talent, and add something to the party. If you are going to bring the party down, or worse, disrupt it in any way, you will clearly not be welcome.
Similarly, as an immigrant, you have to bring some expertise or quality considered valuable in your adopted country. This will automatically draw appreciation and accommodation from the host nation. You have to fit in with your new home and community. Everyone appreciates and even enjoys new thinking, a different point of view coming from a different vantage point, and unique cultures and customs. But within the fabric of a society, so it can be woven into the mosaic, and enrich all parties, not rip or ruin the fabric. Fundamentally, immigration implies a change of venue, but not a change in socio-economic parameters and work ethics. You still have to endeavor and compete. You still have to create and add value — in fact more so than in your native land. Immigration is not just a way out, it also has to be a way in.
Like any successful association, immigration is about forming a win-win partnership between the immigrants and host nations. There has to be a positive outcome for each side for immigration to be successful and viable in the long term. Immigrants have to find a higher, safer quality of life and standards of living. They have to feel like they belong, assimilating while at the same time being able to preserve their cultures and traditions.
But concurrently, their host nations and communities have to realise some benefit from having immigrants there too. They have to have their quality of life and standards of living enhanced too. They have to have their jobs completed, or other purposes served. They have to see immigrants making an effort to integrate and assimilate themselves into their communities, to enhance them rather than disrupt or undermine them.
At this juncture in human history, the fate of the immigration wave hangs decidedly in balance. The forces of nationalism and self-preservation are forcing a re-think on the societal costs and benefits from immigration. And of course, all the calculus around it is now being thrown in complete disarray because of the novel Coronavirus pandemic. Borders are being closed, lockdowns are being enforced, and economies are winding down. Travel worldwide has slowed down to a trickle, and in many places even come to screeching halt. Immigration has largely been shut down, and there is a strong undercurrent brewing to be self-sufficient and reduce reliance on foreign companies or workers. Immigrants are now much more hesitant to travel, and countries are much more reticent to accept them. In certain regions, the immigration wave has truly reversed, with intra-national workers trekking back to their native lands from major metropolises to escape the health and economic distress. There is also extreme concern about local economies and the livelihoods of local workers, with a heavy emphasis on employing local workforces, thereby pushing immigration opportunities further into the background. 2020 is quite a shock wave to the immigration system.
What then is the prognosis for immigration in the months and years ahead? Will the current Coronavirus crisis and the nationalistic self-preservation forces throttle the flow of immigration around the world? Or will the historical forces of the economic emancipation trump these? How will the Coronavirus pandemic impact immigration in the long term? These are fundamental questions facing governments and societies around the world, with profound implications on the shape of the world to come. Time will tell which path is chosen by the world, and history will judge if it was a path well chosen!
The writer is the author of The Consumer Revolution: Tipping the balance of power published by Sage Publications India
