Development and Globalisation Case Study Map

This is by no means a definite or complete list of case studies for the development and globalisation module but is a few facts from some different countries - there is plenty more that I could (and probably should!) add but unfortunately I simply do not have the time! However, hopefully it may still be useful - the countries are in no particular order... Let me know if you have found any other interesting case study facts!


Case studies are by no means my favourite thing to revise, so if anyone has found a more interesting way to do so then let me know, I know I am not the only one who would love to hear it! The timeline of the FB page is really good, especially for the tectonics module I think, so check it out if you are struggling with your case studies!!!

Development revision - the basics

Hello everyone - this is the first, of many to come, revision posts over the next few weeks, so enjoy!
Development Mindmap
Development Continuum
The development continuum is the contemporary way of viewing development; percieving it as a contiual process and recognising that it can occur in a number of different ways, not necessarily in the way the UK did, as outlined by the Rostow Model of Development. Ranking countries using HDI, a composite indicator, essentially the development continuum is a sliding scale from most to least developed with lots of intermediates such as RICs and NICs; meaning it illustrates the complexities that the Brandt Line fails to display. Therefore it also indicates the importance of the changing roles of countries such as the Asian Tigers, orginally LDCs who attracted TNCs and consequential cumulative causation accelerated development. Now they are mature NICs and their role in the global economy has changed and will change again as they continue to develop and the global shift moves. This idea has replaced older classification (like first, second, third world and MEDC/LEDC) as the use of LEDC and MEDC as discrete groups implied that all countries within that group are of the same development level, which is not the case, and subsequently the development continuum is more reflective of reality.

Gross National Product (GNP) = total value of goods and services for a country's companies at home and abroad
Gross National Income (GNI) = GDP plus or minus the interest and repayments on debt
Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) = measure of the value of the local currency
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) = total value of goods and services within a country (including foreign companies)
Issues with using GDP as a measure of development:
- Inequalities = in many LDCs wealth remains with a few and does not filter down through population
- Informal employment = in LDCs many work in informal employment, such as street vending, so money is exchaged without record
- Subsistence lifestyles = many farmers lead a subsistence lifestyle, so it is impossible to accurately measure income and population

Composite indicators vs Single Indicators
Development is the process of social and economic advancements that leads to improvements in peoples quality of life and general wellbeing, as such when trying to measure it, it is important to not only consider the economic indicators. This realisation, was one of the main driving forces behind moving away from first, second, third world classification and the Brandt Line, to the development continuum. HDI, for example, takes into account GDP using PPP, life expectancy at birth and educational attainment, thus considers several aspects of development. Therefore just because a country is rich, i.e Qatar which has a really high GDP, does not mean it scores highly on HDI, and vice versa as seen with Kerala which has a low GDP but would rank high on HDI. However, there is clearly often a positive correlation between GDP and HDI as countries with a high HDI can distribute funds to health care and education, subsequently raising life expectancy and educational attainment. Despite this, composite indicators make global comparisions a lot easier but some composites, like HPI, are subjective, meaning that it is a less accurate measure of development than solely using GDP. There are some advantages of using single indicators as they do not shroud individual measures and so, with regards to pinpointing what social and economic improvements are required for a country to develop, should also be taken into consideration when determining level of development.

Rostow Model of Development


Produced in 1960, this model can be used as a rough guide to development and, in conjunction with the Demographic Transition Model can be used to formulate population policies. Transitions between both models are very similar, illustrating the intrinsic link between population and development. Rostow suggeseted that all countries could break the viscious cycle of poverty and develop between this 5 stages. However, it is very eurocentric and underestimates the role of colonialism in early development of the 15 countries it is based on.

River management case studies

HARD Engineering in the Mississppi

• The US needed to prevent the yearly floods and tame the river to make it navigable in order to develop
• Before management schemes were implemented the river constantly shifted its channel and eroded its banks
• They used stone dykes to trap sediment and provoke the river to erode vertically so that the channel was deep enough for paddle steam boats to use
• More wing dykes were constructed along with reserviors, levees and channel straightening, channelisation (concrete matressing) and dregding were also used -----> this all made the river faster as they increased the gradient along the rivers long profile
• All of this management, like all river management in the America, was completed by the US Army Corps of Engineers and costs $180 million a year in maintainence as the force of the water sweeps away thousands of dollars worth of management each year. It is hard to manage rivers as they constantly change (in a state of dynamic equilbrium) and so management techiniques are based on guess work and trialed in labs. Some people, though, think that management of the Mississippi has made the floods worse......
• 1993 = 3 months of torrential rain -----> defences were not designed for the such large size of flood that occured and the local people chose not to pay for the levees to be heightened. The levees failed. However, many think that if the levees didn't fail then the flooding would have been worse as they are believed to constrict water movement, block up the channel and increase pressure.
• Floodplain development has raised the flood risk as concrete increases surface runoff by reducing infiltration. Also the removal of vegetation reduces the interception store and, because there is nothing to trap the sediment, can raise the level of the river bank. Drains etc, which are designed to imitate the natural processes like throughflow,are a lot more efficient and so the water enters the channel quicker. Therefore scientists conclude that floodplains should not be built on as they are a natural flood defence that is supposed to flood.

SOFT Engineering in the River Rhine

• The high flooding of the River Rhine in 1993 and 1995 , in combination with the growing awareness of global climate change, made the public and respective authorities realise that constantly raising the height of levees and dykes, for example, is neither economically or environementally sustainable and that, instead, it is more appropriate to allow the river more room so that it can deal with a higher discharge at a lower water level. This reflects a new philosophy that we should adapt to the shape and behaviour of the river basins nto alter them to suit us. This has been approached by:
• Landuse change and relocation of habitats - not allowing building developments to be constructed on flood plains as they are supposed to flood
• Floodplain land use zoning - land is being zoned for uses that will not be damaged by winter floods like forests and parks etc.
• Afforestation - the planting of trees has increased the interception store, prevented the net movement of sediment and so reduced the amount of water and sediment reaching the river
• Room for the River scheme which includes:-
• An increase in water meadows which can be allowed to flood when necessary. The sealing of the soil surface with tarmac or concrete in vulnerable areas is being limited to slow the water run off into the rivers
• Ground coverage of vegetation with woodlands and grasslands is being increased
• The use of fertilisers on soil is being carefully monitored because these affect the soil structure and its ability to retain water
• To allow more space for trees on the floodplain, metres of silt accumulated over many years has been stripped and deep trenches constructed
• All of these soft engineering methods have increased the time taken for water to enter the channel, reduced the amount of water that does enter the channel, created a channel that has a larger cross section and so can accomodate a larger volume of water and moved people away from the most vulnerable areas - remeber that disasters, like a flood, only occur when people come in close contact with a risk!
• Some hard management options are still being used though like the building of flood relief channels to siphon off the Rhine flood water when the delta becomes overloaded, making the course of the river straighter and shorter and increasing the height of some of the levees.

SOFT Engineering in the River Quaggy

• The River Quaggy runs through southeast London and since the 1960's it has been heavily managed by building artifical channels and culverts to divert the flow beneath the surface as it passed through Greenwich.
• The areas of Lewisham and Greenwich have become more densely populated and the flood risk has increased, due to the continued development, and so more is needed to be done to protect the surroundign area. Further widening and deepening of the channel were considered but instead teh Environment Agency decided a softer option was most appropriate. A solution was proposed by the local residents, who formed the Quaggy Waterways Action Group, that would improve the local environment whilst also provided protection against floods.
• The plan was to bring the river back above ground once again , cutting a new channel through Sutcliffe Park, and creating a new multi-functional open space. This method improves both the flood management and quality of the park. A culvert did remain to take soem of the excess water, during times of flood, underground but a new lake was built to allow the are to deal with the majority of the excess water when the river floods.
• The park itself was lowered and shaped to create a new floodplain where watercould naturally collect, instead of rushing downstream through the previous artifical channels to flood Lewishantown centre. The parks flood storage capacity is equivalent to 35 Olympic swimming pools, has reduced the risk of flooding for 600 homes and businesses in the local area and created a diverse environment for wildlife
• By reducing the river to a more natural course and including a flood storage area, the scheme has created a wetland environment with reedbeds, wildflower meadows and trees. This scheme won the Natural Environment category in the 2007 Waterways Renaissance Awards and the Living Wetland Award.

This is the remainder of the river case studies we need to know for the exam. I don't know if any of you feel the same, but after going through the mock yesterday, I realised that it is so much easier to do well if you know the case studies really well. So next I think I will go through the population case studies as there are rather a lot of them - the population policies and migration case studies are already on here........

Flooding case studies

I am getting the impression that many of you are still struggling when it comes to case studies and which ones it is we need to know and so I thought that I would try and summarise each one over the next week - starting off with the rivers ones....

So, according to the revision guide we need to know about flooding in Bangladesh and Gloucestershire, hard-engineering in the Mississippi and a soft engineering case study (either the river Quaggy or river Rhine). Firstly, I thought I would start off with the flooding case studies so here goes......

BANGLADESH FLOODS 1998 

Physical causes:-

• most of the country is a huge floodplain and the deltas of the river Ganges and Brahmaputra. 70% of the land is less than 1m above sea level whilst rivers and lakes cover 10% of the land
• they experience heavy precipitation due to seasonal monsoon rains, glacier melt, storm surges and cyclones

Human causes:-

• the building of the Farraka Dam in India in 1971 is blamed for the raising of the river bed of the Hooghly River, a tributary of the Ganges. During the dry season the dam reduces the discharge of the river, thereby encouraging sedimentation on the river bed and increasing the risk of flooding
• urbanisation - recent development schemes involving the construction of networks of roads and embankments have added obstacles to the free drainage of water from the land and reduce the amount of permeable surfaces
• climate change - some people link global warming to rising sea levels. The Bangladesh floods in 1998 were notable for their long duration of 56 days. This was blamed, by some, on higher sea levels which increased the time it took for water in infiltrate on the floodplain. An increase in global temperatures was also believed to have caused the execptional high levels of precipitation experienced in the Himalayas during that same year
• deforestation - the Ganges and Brahmaputra's sources are located in Nepal and Tibet where, in recent years, their rapidly increasing populations have caused the removal of vast areas of forest to provide grazing land and a fuel source (it is estimated that 50% of the forest cover in Nepal that was present in the 1950's has been cut down). Vegetation plays a big role in the hydrology of the upland drainage basins due to the fact that it absorbs water from the ground, binds soil particles and reduces the impact of rain on the ground. Overall the forest cover slows the journey of water to the river channels and therefore reduces the risk of flooding. The removal of forests has reduced interception and increased landslides, surface runoff and soil erosion. The silt and soil which is eroded is deposited in the river channel, causing the raising of the river bed and reducing the capacity of the river. It has been estimated that soil is being lost 400 times faster in deforested areas and is responsible for raising the river bed of the Brahmaputra by 5cm a year.

Social Impacts:-

• over 1000 people were killed whilst millions were displaced
• in Assam, in the north-east, more than 1 million people lost their homes and in the Nalbari district 240 villages were submerged
• an embankment protecing Sandwip, a large coastal isalnd, was breached by the high tide and marooned 1,200 families
• 46 out of the 64 districts flooded
• livestock and crops were lost
• 7000 people had to find shelter in the Government relief camps
• transport links and infrastructure were severly damaged

Economic Impacts:-

• crops sumerged meant loss of income from agriculture
• industrial processes had to be halted due to structural damage and lack of transport for workers
• cost the country $1 billion

Environmental Impacts:-

• as the waters receded, brown fields of rotting crops, villages buried in sand and silt and wrecked roads and bridges were left behind
• risk of food shortages as millions of hectares of agricultural land was underwater
• large amounts of farmland washed away
• acute shortages of drinking water and dry food
• respiratory infections affected large numbers of people along with outbreaks of cholera and other diseases that spread easily in water
• landslides

The short term response to the floods:-

• Bangladesh Government - distibuted money and 400 tonnes of rice and provided relief supplie of freshwater, water purification tablets, sanitation services. Also appealed for national unity and calm in the wake of the disaster and the general strike which took place in response to the flooding and accusations that the government failed to get basic goods to the people affected.
• Governments of other countries - the UK sent steel bridge materials and 100,000 million tonnes of wheat. Canada provided 12,500 million tonnes of wheat and money for medicine, watertablets, house repair materials, sanitatin and rehabilitation of farming and fishing. Egypt sent money for medicines whilst Saudi Arabia sent two cargo planes with food, medicines, blankets and tents.
• The Disaster Forum (a network of aid agencies)- provided boats to rescue people and take them and their belongings to high ground. Supplied medicines to treat and prevent the spread of disease. Medecins Sans Frontieres used 6 mobile teams in boats to travel around one region in which people were literally living in the water. Supplied clean drinking water by digging and repairing wells. Monitored the health situation and set up a medical treatment centre. Distributed fodder for lifestock. Distributed food, plastic sheeting and water purification tablets. Planned a rehabilitation programme to repair and construct housing and sanitation.

The long term responses:-

• The flood action plan was created to try and reduce the severity of the damaged caused by future floods.
• Taming the Brahmaputra is being considered and so far the possible methods to do this include:
• Narrowing the channel by 4km
• Building 8000km of levee embankments
• Building wing dykes to trap sediment - at present, modelling suggests that it would cost $5 million to build one dyke (which is 8 times the cost of that to build one in the Mississippi) and a further $10 million to cover the start up costs. This is all before you consider the annual maintainence costs aswell.
• However, this would:
• Force millions out of there homes
• Distrupt fisheries
• Change agricultural patterns and irrigation patterns - with 80% of the population dependent on agriculture this would be a big problem
• As mentioned above, very costly due to the fact that all the materials would need to be imported due to the lack of resources on Bangladesh

RIVER SEVERN 2007

Physical causes:-

• weather conditions throughout the summer were far from the norm. The jet stream, which influences the path taken by the low-pressure weather systems in the north Atlantic, had followed an abnormally southerly path. This meant the usual anticyclonic weather conditions, influenced by the high pressure cell in the Azores, did not materialise
• rainfall totals May-July were highest on record since 1766 with July being the wettest July on record
• flood risk in summer is usually reduced by dry soil conditions. However, in this case there had been early summer rainfall so soils were already close to field capacity and this, accompanied with the higher than normal groundwater levels, meant there was little infiltration capacity
• torrential rain - 78mm fell over 12 hours

Human causes:-

• many housing developments were either built on floodplains or encroached on the river banks
• urbanization = increase in impermeable surfaces which reduces infiltration and thereby increases surface runoff
• removal of vegetation reduces interception store and, because there is nothing to trap the movement of sediment, raise the level of the river bed
• gutters and drainpipes, which do the equivalent of the natural processes of throughfall, stemflow and leaf drip etc, are much more efficient flows and so the water enters the channel quicker

Social Impacts:-

• 13 people died
• 2000 people had to stay in rest centres
• electricity had to be turned off which left 42,000 homes in Gloucester withotu power
• 3966 homes flooded with 1300 experiencing major loss of possessions
• 1950 people had to be rescued
• 350,000 people left without clean water

Economic Impacts:-

• Total cost = £6 billion
• 10,000 motorists stranded on the M5 with 500 people stranded at the railway
• £2.5 million to repair highway damage
• 20 schools badly damaged
• 500 businesses flooded and over 7,500 temporarily closed
• £2 million to repair community buildings
• Large increase in insurance premiums for those living near rivers

Environmental impacts:-

• flooding of water treatment plants resulted in water pollution
• loss of crops and damage to agricultural land
• much of the mand was under 3ft of water and once this disappeared it left behind muds and sands which damaged the land

Responses to the flooding:-

• rest centres set up by the County Council
• Army distributed water bottles and 23 bowser tanks were used to supply drinking water
• Gloucester fire and rescue service attened 1,800 calls in 18 hours
• RAF rescued those trapped in buildings and cars

River managment techniques implemented as a response to the floods:-

• Early warning systems improved
• River flood defences anaylsed
• Analysis was conducted of the areas prone to flooding
• Sandbags prepared for expected flash floods
• 73,00 people (additional) singed up to flood warning systems
• 8500km of flood defences inspected

So, there are the two flooding case studies - sorry alot of it is in note form but I think this is the basics of what we need to know - either later tonight or tomorrow I will try and write about hard engineering in the Mississippi and soft engineering in the River Quaggy and River Rhine.......

Migration Case Studies

As I worked through the population module yesterday afternoon, I soon realised that I didn't have any notes on any of the migration case studies and so I have spent this morning reading up about each of them and I thought, due to the fact that I know I am not the only one lacking notes on this, that I would type them up on here instead of writing them all out by hand.

Bosnia Herzegovinia

Origin of the Area

After years of unstable governments, economic problems and conflict; the central European country of Yugoslavia spilt up into various countries. The process started in 1991, when the country spilt into four, and has continued for years up until the present day. Bosnia Herzegovina, one of the largest countries to come out of the division and it gained its independence in 1992. The areas population structure of Serbs, Albanians and Croats has historicaly been a place of ethinic conflict, which was ultimatly the cause of the spilt.

After the formation of the country, war broke out and years of fighting between the ethinic groups followed. Ownership of land was disputed, resulting in ongoing conflict that led to economic and  political instability across much of former Yugoslavia. Thousands of people were killed until the area settled down in 1995, but even today it is far from stable.

Migration inside Bosnia Herzegovinia is forced, meaning people are moving because of fear. Forced migration within the country is due to the ongoing conflicts, and is displacing thousands of people from their homes. Many moved to cities or towns and stopped at the nearest safe place they could find. Others emmigrated to other countries. It is estimated that 40% of those who emmigrated went to either  Serbia, Montengro or Crotia whilst some went to the USA, Canada and Australia but the majority emmigrated to Germany and Austria.

As a result of the ethnic cleansing that took place it is thought that around 102 000 people were killed and just under 2 million people were displaced.

Push Factors

Þ  Heavy conflict meant that the threat of losing your life was forever present

Þ  Lack of tolerance for religious and cultral diversity

Þ  Frequent violations of basic human rights

Þ  Poor public services and other facilites

Þ  Lack of employment and economic stability – conflict destroyed crops and farm land

Þ  Destruction of property and infastructure                                                                             

Pull Factors

Þ  Religious freedom –people fled to where their ethnicity was a majority not a minority to try and avoid the ethnic cleansing

Þ  Safety in numbers – more people lived in the cities and towns and the death threat was not as prominent

Þ  Stable economy – adults needed jobs and a realiable income to sustain a family

Þ  Better infastructure that had not been devasted by the conflict

Þ  Better and more widely avaiable facilites and public services

Migration Obstacles

These are problems people face in the area that could prevent them from migrating. In the current situation, most people will face problems but because they are migrating through fear, will find ways to overcome them. If the situation is forcing people to migrate, most will go to any extent to find a safe place to live. Despite this, people could face problems such as lack of money or transport and confusion as to where a safe place to go actually is. Most will end up going to urban areas, resulting in general rural to urban migration in Bosnia Herzegovinia.

Positives about the orgin

Bosnia is predominantly a mountainous country with only a few regions of flat grass land used for farming. This is where most of the ethnic cleansing took place and so this caused problems with food supplies as farmers and their families migrated away from the unsafe countryside to the cities. Flat land was fiercely fought over as it was the most suitable land to farm. 

Negatives about the destination

The areas where people migrated to quickly became overcrowded and refugee camps started to appear like the one near Kosovo. It was reported that over 4000 people were fleeing into camp near Kosovo every hour. This stretched public services and also provoked higher crime rates as people became desperate. The land nearer the cities and towns was harder or impossible to farm and so food shortages were an issue.

Neutral factors of the origin and destination  

The situation in the destination, compared to the origin, is likely to be very different. It will probably be more crowded, but would not be under the pressures of conflict the origin had. Some things could remain the same however, such as general living conditions. Overall, you would probably expect life to much better in the new destination, as life would be reasonably similar to before, only without conflict.  

Effects of migration

Rural to urban migration has lead to an uneven distrubtion of skills. This has also meant that food production has been reduced as farmers left the countryside for safety. This has meant that their was no one left to farm the land. Ethnic cleansing has increased the seperation between the different ethnic groups that reside in \Bosnia Herzegovina and the violation of human rights has been reported to still occur; especially amognst the refugees that are still returning home. Although the European Union Peacekeeping Troops are still present in Bosnia Herzegovina to try and maintain the peace and stability; things are starting to improve. It is estimated that 579 000 people have returned to their original homes with many more locally intergrated.

Africa to Western Europe

Origin of the Area

Many of the countries in Africa face political instability or are under dictatorial rulers that seem to care little about the quality of life and social welfare of those in the country. Health care is poor, or non- existant, and with HIV and malaria being rife in many of the countries that make up this contient life expectancy is extremely low (the average in Africa is 47 years). The accessibilty to education is also a big problem across much of Africa and job oppurtunites are hard to find. Access to clean water, food, electricity and many of the things people in the developed world take for granted, are also extremely hard to come by.

Push Factors

Þ  Lack of health care

Þ  Lack of education

Þ  Conflict and political instability

Þ  Poor public services and other facilites

Þ  Lack of employment and economic stability

Þ  Lack of infrastucture

Þ  Lack of religious freedom                                                                              

Pull Factors

Þ  Free health care and education

Þ  More polictically and economically stable

Þ  More job oppurtunites with a minimum wage enforced

Þ  Better and more widely avaiable facilites and public services

Þ  Laws enforced in a fair and humane way means safety

Migration Obstacles

Travelling on old fishing boats from Africa to Europe is very dangerous and many do not survive the route (in June this year, 24 Africans drowned after a dinghy capsized south of Malta)which, due to people smugglers, can cost up to 2000 Euros. I Also once you get to a country like Spain, which is popular due to the fact that it is one of the closest European countries, many often get expelled from the country or repatriated. The language barrier can also present problems when it comes to communication and with living costs being so much higher in European countries, most cannot afford to find somewhere to live. The cultral barrier is another obstacle that needs to be overcome but perhaps the biggest is gaining the right to permanent residence in that country.

Positives about the orgin

The culture, language and climate are the same and all very different to those found in European countries. The skills that many of these immigrants have are most applicable to the conditions found in their origins.  

Negatives about the destination

The cost of living is very high and separation between immigrants and the people already living in the destination can create tension and, in some extreme cases, result in violence. High taxes also have to be paid.

Effects of migration

-          In 2006, about  22,016 people reached Italy by boat from Africa

-          The majority of African migrants live in Europe with an estimated 4.6 million doing so compared to only 890,000 in the USA

-          About two-thirds of Africans in Europe are from North Africa

Having migrated, many of the migrants send home money to family members they have left behind. Billions of dollars each year is sent back to Africa from migrants scattered around the world and, in some cases, this makes up sizeable chunks of the origin country’s GDP. However, it leaves many families seperated and again leads to a lack of skilled people in the origin. The impacts on the destination are, perhaps, mainly negative as huge amounts of money has to be invested in combacting illegal migration. The legal migrants though, do help to bolster a country’s workforce which, in countries like the UK who have an ageing population, is crucial if they are to  maintain a certain degree of economic stability.

Brain Drain from UK to USA

Push Factors

Þ  High taxes which, in the near future, are only expected to get higher

Þ  High house prices and day to day living costs

Þ  Poor climate

Þ  Career stagnation is making it harder and harder for newly qualified graduates to get a job

Þ  Lower salaries

Þ Industrial unrest

                                                                             

Pull Factors

Þ  Higher initial salaries are offered in the USA compared to the UK

Þ  American universites and research companies have made the effort to attract graduates over to the USA

Þ  Many feel that they have a better chance of getting a job in America

Þ  Many just want to take the oppurtunity to work abroad and see it as part of their personal development

Þ  No language barreir

Migration Obstacles

The cost of moving to America is without a doubt the biggest obstacle that needs to be overcome. The costs involved with moving to America would be huge but the fact that so many people chose to move to America suggests that the rewards must be very high. Distance is another obstacle as moving to America means that you are a long way away from family members and friends. Getting a green card/visa is also another obstacle that needs to be overcome by people wishing to move to America.

Positives about the orgin

Free health care and education system are the biggest positives about the origin. Being part of the EU means that travelling amongst other countries in Europe is easy.

Negatives about the destination

Health care system is run slightly differently and so you end up paying a lot more for it then you, indirectly, do in the UK. Higher crime rates, especially gun crime rates due to different laws.  America experiences hurricanes and wildfires and earthquakes, amongst other things, that do not occur in the UK due to the climate and location.

Neutral factors of the origin and destination 

There are similarities between the origin and destination like the fact that the same languages are spoken and, in terms of development, they are on very similar levels. This means that the facilities found, and the quality of them, will be very similar. Compared to other countries they are both quite politically stable with similar military activities in other countries.

Effects of migration

This migration has led to an uneven distribution of skills. This has rapidly changed British society as large numbers of highly skilled graduates are moving abroad and this is not match by those migrating to the UK. However, this brain drain has attracted more than a million skilled immigrants to the UK which has helped to reduce the impacts of this trend. It is believed that if the UK stopped attracting graduates from abroad the full force of the impacts of this trend would be felt. This emmigration trend is costing the country a lot of money as, for example, it costs £250,000 to train a junior doctor who, like many, is choosing to practice abroad (it is estimated that 37.7% of those emmigrating have health or education qualifications). This is greatly benefitting the USA who don’t have to pay for the training of professionals but are benefitting from their education, which was funded by the UK.

 

Poland to the UK

Origin of the Area

Poland was admitted to the EU on 1^st April 2004 and with this came the right for any citizen of Poland to move freely around all the other EU countries. On the accession to the EU, it was anticipated that  levels of migration from Poland and the other A8 countries (all former communist bloc countries in central and eastern Europe) to the UK would drastically increase and this is excatly what happened. Living conditions in Poland are poor and unemployment is a huge problem and so many people have been attracted to the UK. This is only one of the three major waves of Polish immigration to the UK though. The first wave was as a result of wartime displacement and deportation with the Nazi occupation of Polish territory. The second wave occurred during the cold war when, despite the heavy restrictions on movement imposed by communist authorites, several thousand Poles joined existing groups in the UK.

Push Factors

Þ  High levels of unemployment – in 2005, 18.5% of those at working age were unemployed in Poland

Þ  Poor living conditions

Þ  Low salaries

Þ  Poor public services and other facilites

                                                                             

Pull Factors

Þ  The UK was one of only three countries (the other two being Ireland and Sweden) who didn’t put a limit on the number of migrants from A8 countries who could enter the country

Þ  English is spoken as the second language in Poland and so there was no language barrier, as such, to overcome

Þ    Migration was easy to the UK due to cheap flights and coach services

Þ    Plenty of avaliable jobs in the UK due to a skills shortage (think about the Brain Drain to the USA)

Þ    An average Polish worker could earn five times the amount he could in the UK compared to what they could earn in Poland

Migration Obstacles

Compared to the other case studies there are not many obstacles that had to be overcome. Language was not an issue, entry to the country was not an issue and budget airlines were able to offer relatively cheap transport to the UK.

Who are the migrants?

-          Around 80% are aged 18 to 34

-          Only one in ten have brought dependents with them

-          Only 3% have brought dependents with them who are under 17

-          The average age is 28

-          Most of them are single

-          The ratio of males to females is 58:42

-          Most of them are skilled/semi-skilled industrial workers and tradesmen

-          No real demographic concentrations as they choose to reside in both rural and urban areas up and down the country

-          97% of the immigrants work full time

Neutral factors of the origin and destination  

In terms of development, the origin and destination, as they are noth memebers of the EU, should be very similar. The language barrier is not present, so to speak, as English is taught as a second language in Poland. Cultural differences are not going to be wildly different either.

Effects of migration

It has been estimated that Eastern European immigrants have contributed £2.5billion to the UK’s economy and roughly 1% of the UK’s growth in 2006 was attributed to the same workers. British businesses have been able to cash in on the new market created by the presense of the young, single Poles who seem keen to join the consumer culture common in the UK. Polish shops and businesses have helped to start and rejuvenate the seriously declining shopping streets of the UK and also swell the size of church congregations. The migrants, 80% of which are aged between 18 and 34, have helped the UK cope with the problems being provoked by the ageing population by filling the gaps in the UK’s labour market and have also helped to fill the skills gap created by the brain drain. However, additional stress has been placed on the education and health care systems and demand for housing has further driven renting/buying prices higher. Also much of the money earnt is not staying in the UK as it is being sent back to Poland. In Poland, itself, this migration of young workers to the UK has helped to reduce the unemployment problems but has been blamed for increased divorce rates.

India to Dubai

-          In the UAE, 90% of the workforce (10 million people) are migrants, most of which originate from  the rural areas of  India, Bangladesh and Pakistan.

-          Dubai has a population of 1.5 million and 1 million of these people are migrants.

-          As Dubai’s oil reserves are declining the ruling family, Maktoums, wanted to invest their wealth to make Dubai the best city and so they created lots of long term building projects. Many migrants have seen this as an opportunity to earn some money whilst enjoying the glamorous city life that Dubai claims to offer.

-          The average wage of a migrant in Dubai is $4 a day and most of this is sent back home to their families.

-          Migrants who get work on one of the long term building projects have to pay for their travel to Dubai and on arrival their passports are confiscated  while they are on a contract with a firm. Exit visas can’t be obtained without approval of a sponsor or an employer. These workers live in the workers’ camps which are remote and cramped and  constructed in the desert. This thereby adds extra time, for journeying to and from the construction site, to an already long enough 12 hour shift. There are also many accusations of discrimination and violence from employers, police and security forces including sexual assaults of women.

Push Factors

Þ  Poor infrastructure and lack of housing and santitation

Þ  Areas very densely populated

Þ  Lack of job oppurtunities

Þ  Monsoon rains hampering economic progress

Þ  Lack of natural resources

Þ  Poor standard of living

Þ  Low salaries                                                                           

Pull Factors

Þ  In 2007, it was named the world’s fastest growing city

Þ  More job oppurtunites – all of which are better paid

Þ  More stable economy

Þ  Better infastructure anf facilities

Þ  Believed to offer a better quality of life

Migration Obstacles

Again the costs involved with moving are high and once you are there you are not guaranteed a job. The is also the language barrier and the cultral differences that migrants have to overcome.

Positives about the orgin

Depends greatly on where in India the people are emigrating from. A few regions, like Kerala, have good education and health care services and equality for all.  

Negatives about the destination

Many of the negatives have been mentioned at the start of this case study but to reinforce the idea……..the working conditions and the living conditions provided are very poor and violence appears to be common. Wages are not great as there is no minimum wage and spending 12 hours in the heat, building skyscrapers is not ideal. The employers also fail to pay for many things that they should including health care costs and visa fees. The corruption of the employers who, illegally, hold on to workers passports means that once in Dubai it is very, very hard to leave.

Neutral factors of the origin and destination  

Living conditions do not seem to be that different and corruption among officals is something that is common to both countries.

Effects of migration

It has eased the unemployment problems in India but has left a shortage of men to work the land and produce food for the country, as they are the ones who have been migrating to Dubai for the manual labour. The migrants offer cheap labour for Dubai and are prepared to work long hours doing the manual labour required to develop the infrastructure that is required to attract people from the developed world to this region. Despite a tight control on the media, local newspapers etc have reported on and opened the worlds eyes to the dreadful conditions and abuse experienced by the migrant workers in Dubai which has started to give it, and rightfully so, a bit of a bad reputation.  Many migrants want to move back to India, but cannot at present afford to or travel as their employers hold on to their passports. When they do manage to move back to though, Dubai is going to be left with a huge gap in its society which will affect its development, whilst the unemployment problems still present in India will be furthered.

Rwanda to DR Congo

Origin of the Area

Rwanda is in central Africa, east of Democratic Republic of the Congo where the separation between the Hutu and Tusi has caused huge problems and forced many to migrate to the DR Congo. The tension between these two groups was first created when the Belgian colonists treated the Tutsi as the superior group despite the fact the Hutu were the majority.  On 6^th April 1994 genocide was sparked when the Rwandan president Juvenal Habyarimana’s plane was shot from the air above Kigali airport. With less than hours after the attack, a campaign of violence spread from the capital throughout the country, and did not subside until three months later. In Kigali, the presidential guard immediately initiated an operation of retribution. Leaders of the political opposition were murdered, and almost instantly, the slaughter of Tutsis and moderate Hutus began. This conflict later became known as the Rwandan Genocide and lasted 100 days and claimed the lives of close to 1 million people (the majority of which were Tutsis).  In July, of that year, the Tutsi’s managed to gain control of the capital Kigali and declare a ceasefire. The Hutu, fearing retribution attacks, fled to Zaire (which is now the DR Congo). It is estimated that around 2 million refugees fled from Rwanda.

Push Factors

Þ  Heavy conflict meant that the threat of losing your life was forever present

Þ  Lack of tolerance for religious and cultral diversity

Þ  Frequent violations of basic human rights

Þ  Lack of employment and economic stability – conflict destroyed crops and farm land (think about the Bikes to Rwanda case study we did in the energy module and how the genocide effected the once thriving coffee industry which, at present, is still struggling to recover)

Þ  Destruction of property and infastructure due to the conflict                                                                                   

Pull Factors

Þ  DR Congo was more stable than Rwanda

Þ  Safety

Þ  Not to far away (think about distance decay)

Þ  Better infastructure that had not been devasted by the conflict

Migration Obstacles

Surviving the journey to the DR Congo was the biggest obstacle as many feared for their lives. The migrants had also lost everything and so life, if they managed to get into the DR Congo, would be extremely hard.

Positives about the orgin

The Hutu’s were in a majority in Rwanda and safety often comes in numbers. Coffee plantations offered the most employment and many men had skills in these areas which were harder to apply in the DR Congo.

Negatives about the destination

Many of the tribes in DR Congo (then Zaire) had links to the Tutsi’s and so the Hutu’s were not always received very well. The country also had its own problems including civil unrest, unemployment and lack of food and access to clean water in many areas.

Neutral factors of the origin and destination  

Both countries had been under Beligium colonail rule and, after they claimed independence, both countries became unstable in terms of the econonic, political and social aspects of life.

Effects of migration

This migration ultimately led to many wars in Zaire as some of the tribes had Tutsi links and it was as if the conflict in Rwanda just spilled over into the DR Congo.  There have also been reports of Rwanda supplying arms and soliders to the Tutsi rebels in DR Congo. Refugee camps had to be set up to accommodate this sudden migration and thousands of the migrants died in epidemics of diseases common to the squalor of refugee camps, such as cholera and dysentery.

These are only a few rough notes that I made quickly this morning to try and fill the gaps in my knowledge. There are other things that you can add under each heading as I didn’t bother with all of the really obvious push and pull factors, for example, or bother writing about some of the origins as I think most of you will know enough of the basics about some of the countries. If you get the chance, I would suggest reading the book Blood River by Tim Butcher as it mentions the Rwandan Genocide and the effects that both Belgium colonial rule and the migration have had on the DR Congo – I started reading it the other day and it is extremely good so far (review probably won’t appear until after my exams though) and I have been struggling to put it down! Anyway back to the revision, I hope this is useful and I think I covered all the basics – let me know if there is anything I crucial I have missed out!