A Short History of Migration
Author: Massimo Livi-Bacci
Translator: Carl Ipsen
Publisher: Polity Books
Print Length: 160 pages
Genre: Non-Fiction / History, Social Science
Topic: Migration, Refugees & Forced Migration, Mobility & Immobility, Movement of People and Ideas, Freedom to Move and to Stay, Asylum & Asylum Seekers, Immigration System, Immigration Control, History, Development, Economy, Sovereignty, State Formation
This short book provides a succinct and masterly overview of the history of migration, from the earliest movements of human beings out of Africa into Asia and Europe to the present day, exploring along the way those factors that contribute to the successes and failures of migratory groups. Separate chapters deal with the migration flows between Europe and the rest of the world in the 19th and 20th centuries and with the turbulent and complex migratory history of the Americas.
Livi Bacci shows that, over the centuries, migration has been a fundamental human prerogative and has been an essential element in economic development and the achievement of improved standards of living. The impact of state policies has been mixed, however, as states have each established their own rules of entry and departure – rules that today accentuate the differences between the interests of the sending countries, the receiving countries, and the migrants themselves. Lacking international agreement on migration rules owing to the refusal of states to surrender any of their sovereignty in this regard, the positive role that migration has always played in social development is at risk.
This concise history of migration by one of the world’s leading demographers will be an indispensable text for students and for anyone interested in understanding how the movement of people has shaped the modern world.
Table of Contents
Preface
1. Waves of Progress and Gradual Migration
2. Selection and Reproduction: The Settler Effect
3. Organized Migrations
4. Three Centuries: 1500-1800
5. A Quickening Pace: 1800-1913
6. The Last Century: The Trend Reserves, 1914-2010
7. Three Globalizations, Migration, and the Rise of America
8. A Tumultuous Present and an Uncertain Future: 2010-2050
9. On the Move, in an Orderly Fashion
Tables
Notes and References
Index
Massimo Livi-Bacci is an Emeritus Professor of Demography at the University of Florence, Italy. He is a renowned Italian demographer whose work has united historical and statistical approaches to generate new insights into migration, mortality and population. His work scope is ambitious, which covers topics ranging from the sixteenth-century hunt for the mythical El Dorado to the world history of migration. His strongly interdisciplinary approach has allowed him to examine with great subtlety the role of a complex interplay of cultural, economic, social and political factors in determining the history of the world’s population, its growth, movement and decline. His recent work on migration has skillfully illustrated the positive role that migration has played in economic development and the questionable political dynamics of state control of borders. A former president of the International Union for the Scientific Study of Population (IUSSP) and Senator of the Italian Republic (2006-2013), he is a member of the National Lincei Academy, the American Philosophical Society and the Academy of Japan, and a corresponding member of Spain’s Real Academia de la Historia. He is the founder and editor of the website Neodemos for the discussion and dissemination of population and social issues.
Source: https://www.fbbva.es/en/ponentes/massimo-livi-bacci-2/ & https://www.politybooks.com/authorbio?author_slug=massimo-livi-bacci/
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