Migrations in the Mediterranean: old and new challenges and opportunities

Abstract

Aim of this paper is to provide an analysis of the main migratory flows that occurred in the Mediterranean area during the last seventy years. The analysis provides a synthesis of the main population movements in the region divided into five broad periods. In the first period (1948-1963) the countries of Northern and Western Europe hosted migrants from Southern Europe to help in the after-war reconstruction effort. In the fifth and ongoing period (2011 onward) the “Arab Spring”, has radically changed the institutional landscape of the area, triggering non-linear and ongoing regime-change processes and structuring the essence of the current refugee crisis. This new political configuration marks the beginning of the ongoing new era of migration. The periodization will allow to disentangle the main drivers behind international migrations in the area: economic, political, social and demographic factors. Those factors affect not only of the scope and the direction of flows but also of the typology of migrants.