Etienne Piguet

European asylum policy still has a long way to go to better address protection challenges. This paper presents data and visualizations that should help improve responsibility-sharing and solidarity between states. We developed an interactive cartographic tool to map the distribution of refugees in Europe. Besides the observed geographic distribution of asylum seekers and beneficiaries of the temporary protection status, our tool allows for the calculation of a theoretical distribution between countries based on different criteria. The tool is an interactive visualization created with the software “Tableau Desktop.” The original data was collected from Eurostat and the World Bank, before being processed by the research team with the Extract Transform Load (ETL) utility “Tableau Prep” and made available through the Tableau Desktop application. The actual number of asylum applications lodged in country A can thus be compared with the number that would be proportional to that country’s population within Europe in combination with three other criteria. Maps of observed and theoretical reallocations can thus be produced based on population size, area, unemployment rate, economic prosperity or a mix of these factors. The number of refugees received is represented by a red semicircle while the “equitable” number in proportion to given criteria is represented by a grey semicircle. Our database not only allows geographical analysis of the drivers of refugee distribution in Europe, but it also provides the population and policymakers with a solid basis for discussing responsibility-sharing schemes, such as those envisaged in the new EU Asylum Pact of 2024.

The year 2015 saw a significant increase in the number of refugees and migrants arriving in Europe, mainly from the Middle East, Africa, and South Asia. It was so-called “European refugee (or migration) crisis”. Many of these migrants travelled via the Balkan route: After reaching Greece, they crossed the Western Balkans to reach the northern EU countries. Others took the Eastern Mediterranean route, crossing the Aegean Sea, or the Central Mediterranean route from North Africa to Italy. The geopolitical causes of this migration have been extensively analysed, with the Syrian conflict playing a central role as a push factor. The consequences and political context of the crisis—from Chancellor Merkel’s “Wir schaffen das” (“We can do it”) to its role in the UK’s Brexit from the EU—have also attracted much attention. The present paper takes a different stance, looking at the deeper structural and geographical transformations that explain why such an influx of people into Europe was possible in 2015, whereas it had never happened before in similar contexts of violence in the regions of origin. I draw on recent theoretical advances in migration theories that bridge the gap between forced and voluntary migration (push-pull-plus models, aspirations and (cap)abilities theories, etc.). I propose three long-term factors that have facilitated access to European borders but led to urgent and often dangerous migratory situations for asylum seekers: the “shortening” of distances (Europe is easier to reach), the crisis of containment policies (local help for people on the move is difficult to find), and the geographical asymmetry of rights (migrants enjoy substantial protection once in Europe, but not on route and near their country of origin). I believe that these factors played a central role in 2015 and still explain the current situation of migration to Europe and the new increase in migration observed in 2023. In this context, I interpret the current EU policy of closing borders as an attempt to (re)create a geographical buffer separating refugees from their destinations in the context of the globalisation of asylum issues.

Rural populations are particularly exposed to increasing weather variability, notably through agriculture. In this paper, we exploit longitudinal data for Turkish provinces from 2008 to 2018 together with precipitation records over more than 30 years to quantify how variability in a standardized precipitation index (SPI) affects out-migration as an adaptation mechanism. Doing so, we document the role of three potential causal channels: per capita income, agricultural output, and local conflicts. Our results show that negative SPI shocks (droughts) are associated with higher out-migration in rural provinces. A mediated-moderator approach further suggests that changes in per capita income account for more than one quarter of the direct effect of droughts on out-migration, whereas agricultural output is only relevant for provinces in the upper quartile of crop production. Finally, we find evidence that local conflict fatalities increase with drought and trigger out-migration, although this channel is distinct from the direct effect of SPI shocks on out-migration.

The spatialities of migrant entrepreneurship have changed dynamically in recent decades. Movements and exchanges transcend national borders more than ever, and transnational migrant entrepreneurship has become a burgeoning field of research. Yet, knowledge is dispersed across disciplines, and an understanding of contemporary spatialities is limited. We review 155 articles published in English, French, German, and Spanish since 2009, thereby providing an overview of existing knowledge on transnational migrant entrepreneurship and suggesting avenues for future research. We identify five current topical areas of research: (1) the business advantages of transnational migrant entrepreneurship, (2) the determinants of becoming a transnational migrant entrepreneur, (3) the transnational networks of migrants, (4) the economic impacts of transnational migrant entrepreneurship on home and host countries, and (5) whether local environments enable or deter entrepreneurial success. Building on our synthesis of the most recent literature, we propose three crucial dimensions which have been under-researched in past and current work, and which address the diversity of geographical locations, spatial connections, and spatial mobilities involved in transnational migrant entrepreneurship. Moreover, we put forward a set of questions for future research which will advance a comprehension of unequal opportunities among transnational migrant entrepreneurs.

In WIREs Climate Change, Issue 1(4), 2010, I suggested a typology of the data and methods used to assess links between climate change, environmental degradation and migration (Piguet, 2010). My review of the literature included publications up to 2009. Since then, the number of empirically based scientific publications on this topic has risen substantially to average 40 articles per year and the scope of methods, stock of results and diversity of questions has widened. Based on the CLIMIG database—a systematic and analytic collection of scientific references published on migration and the environment—this new synthesis provides a methodological typology of an exceptionally large number of published case studies. This will complement existing reviews and meta‐studies and allow a global overview of the state of research by identifying consensus and disagreements, revisiting methodological challenges and mapping current and future research questions.This article is categorized under: Vulnerability and Adaptation to Climate Change > Values‐Based Approach to Vulnerability and Adaptation

The aim of this paper is to develop a typology of displacement in the context of slow-onset environmental degradation linked to climate change (desertification, droughts and increasing temperatures, sea level rise (SLR), loss of biodiversity, land/forest degradation, and glacial retreat). We differentiate regions under environmental threat according to their social vulnerabilities, mobility patterns, and related policies, and identify twelve types of vulnerability/policy/mobility combinations. The paper is based on a synthesis of 321 published case studies on displacement and slow-onset environmental degradation, representing a comprehensive collection of the literature since the 1970s. We observe that vulnerability is especially critical in small island and coastal contexts, as well as in mountainous zones and desert regions. Migration processes are often not visible in areas affected by environmental degradation. When they do occur, they remain mostly internal and oriented towards cities with occasional rural-to-rural migration. Non-mobile people, as well as those who depend on natural resource industries for their livelihoods, are particularly vulnerable to climate change. Persons with lower levels of education are more likely to respond to environmental shock through short-distance migration, whereas highly educated individuals may migrate over longer distances. Policies that directly address mobility in relation to climate change—mostly through relocation—are seldom mentioned in the literature. Mobility is often perceived as a last-resort solution, whereas a growing body of research identifies mobility as an adaptation strategy.

This paper addresses the drivers of migration intentions amongst francophone West African university students. We use an original dataset collected from more than 4000 students in Côte d’Ivoire, Niger, and Senegal. Multivariate methods allow us to link the intention to migrate with the characteristics of students, with their opinion regarding mobility as well as with the perceived situation of their country of origin. We analyze intervening factors such as ethnicity, financial resources, past migration history, and social networks, and put the results into perspective with migration theory. Our results show that migration intentions are complex processes: the national context plays a role, but family support and networks are important. Generally, only a minority of students wish to leave and then only temporarily, to improve their human capital upon return.

This article analyses the recent growth in asylum applications both in and at the borders of Europe. It enriches the scholarship on the so-called ‘refugee crisis’ with an emphasis on structural transformations and geographical processes. While an increase in regional violence near Europe in 2015 played a key role in triggering displacements, we suggest three longer-term factors that may have facilitated access to European borders but led to urgent and often dangerous migratory situations for asylum seekers: the ‘shortening’ of distances, the crisis of containment policies and the geographic asymmetry of rights. On this basis, we interpret the EU policy of closing borders as an attempt to (re)create a geographic buffer separating refugees from their destinations in the context of the globalization of asylum-related issues.