Example Essay - Geography: Migration,Identity and Sovereignty

The most important thing to note here is the importance of doing exam questions. This one was done about 4 weeks before the exam and it appeared on the exam paper itself. Again, this was done to the correct time-limits of 15-20 minutes. 

Migration, Identity and Sovereignty - Consequences of Disunity Within Nations

• Means tensions, conflict/war and even independence (the country splits up)
• Sovereign states would prefer more unity, but national identity and unity varies a lot around the world e.g. Iceland which is more unified than Singapore or the UK which are more unified than Syria, Congo.

Nationalist Movements:

• Scotland has tried to be independent from the rest of the UK. Has a strong nationalist movement (some players argue that is anti-English) to gain independence.
• Potentially another referendum following Brexit.
• Would be negative for Scotland as it interdependent and interlinked to the English economy, social and political activity.
• Consequences of disunity would include Russian’s living in Crimea in the Ukraine.
• Russians now support the invasion of the Crimean Peninsula in 2014. Russians now own that territory creating serious disunity in Ukraine.
• Other examples are the Kurds in the Middle Eastern countries or different ethnic groups e.g. Syria, Congo leading to more disunity

Political Problems in the BIRCS:

• Tensions due to variation in benefits from globalisation. Creates disunity because the elite might benefit whilst inequalities mean the poorest are often left behind.
  • China has seen demonstrations by locals and environmentalists over pollution in the cities.
  • Brazil has seen disunity between old and young as the young struggle to find employment following the 2008 economic crash leading social problems and indigenous groups in the rainforests have been involved in conflict over deforestation.
  • UK and Russia have had some tension over Russian elite gaining asylum in the UK and has created disunity through government arguments e.g. sanctions on Russia.
  • India has seen some elites grow very rich from globalisation, but other slum-dwelling citizens have been left out and remain poor.

Failed States:

• Some places and nations have so much disunity with a lack of common identity that conflict break out known as ‘failed states.’
• Syria is one example where war has destroyed the country. Iraq in recent years following the war on terror.
• Congo is a failed state due to corruption, war and battle to control rich resources e.g. earth minerals and oil.
• Rwanda was a failed state after the Hutu genocide of the Tutsi’s.
• In failed states, the elite run the country and economy, disparity is high, and the GINI coefficient is high. General population is poor e.g. Congo and Iraq.
• FDI can reduce disunity e.g. TNCs providing employment but they can also support the elite.
• Disunity may lead to trade blocs breaking up and other types of disunity can lead to war.

Migration, Identity and Sovereignty - Challenges to National Identity

• Easiest way to think of this question is to think of the challenges of a nation. Could be economic, political, social or even environmental.

UK Companies Becoming Foreign-Owned:

• The national identity of some British companies is changing as they are brought by overseas TNCs. Cadbury was bought by US TNC Kraft Foods in 2010
• 1950s saw the world’s second manufacturer of cars and now competition has come from Germany and Japan. Land Rovers made by Tata Motors. Some parts still made in the UK but employment and profits have decreased.
• ‘Made in Britain’ remains part of the UK identity in a globalising world. Huge economic challenge to the identity of the UK economy and can affect national identity.

Westernisation:

• The soft power of large TNCs e.g global media and retail companies. Can bring threats to culture, identity and home-grown companies.
• Westernisation is a problem for Africa and Asia as cultural erosion takes place and diets change
• Americanisation is potentially a threat for the UK identity. TNCs such as Apple, Facebook, McDonald’s, Disney, Nike can influence our behaviour.
• They use glocalisation, technology, cheap global distribution networks.
• These changes mean that the UK’s national identity becomes closer to that of America e.g capitalism, consumerism and all the cultures associated with the USA.
• Attitudes may change though; more people want locally sourced food and products that are made in Britain.
• Countries are producing more though e.g South Korea producing Samsung phones or places like Venezuela not allowing TNCs in. Challenges are very social, cultural and impact consumers and individual identity a lot.

Foreign-Ownership:

• UK is so globalised and has a free market that anyone world-wide can buy land or property here. China has a big stake in Heathrow Airport.
• Russian Elite who own flats in London.
• China and Gulf States buy industry to have billions to invest into the UK. Challenge to national identity as our own property businesses and land ownership reduces.
• Could reduce national sovereignty as other countries increasingly have power in the UK.
• Some believe this process will bring in FDI, investment helping GDP increase and support regeneration

Evaluation:

• Soft power cultures affect individual social identity the most as Americanisation changes our identities and who we are.
• Loss of ownership of companies and property that has the biggest impact on the identity of the country
• Sovereign states are increasingly powerful in the UK through FDI and investment.
• In a globalising world, these challenges are likely to increase with emerging powers like China increasingly influencing the UK.

Migration, Identity and Sovereignty - National Identity Becoming Elusive & Contested

• Will the world become a global village? Everyone is becoming a global citizen
• Ethnicities and culture will fully mix and integrate. Humans are becoming similar
• National identity may become global identity.

Powerful Force:

• Nationalism is a powerful force where areas are becoming more ‘nationalist’. Barriers to globalisation and migration. Examples are Brexit and USA boarder wall against Mexico.
• Reinforced through educational history e.g. North Korea teaching nationalism
• Can be done through sports e.g. Olympic Games. Through politics e.g. British Values.
• Fear of globalisation when nationalism increases. Extremism also increases.

Identity and Loyalty:

• Feeling patriot/nationalism. Sport is a clear area where people might change
• Homogeneous nations like Iceland might view themselves as having a more collective identity
• Identity can link to a place e.g. English Countryside bringing culture and Wembley

Changing Identity:

• UK becoming non-religious but more people are Islam or Hindu and it is increasing.
• Food becoming sourced globally and varied. Sense of place has increased e.g. towns. More attached to a place.

Multi-Nationalism:

• Countries becoming multi-national and has a variety of ethnicities. Can affect identity as people have different backgrounds and beliefs. Singapore has better identity than Iceland
• Migrants are becoming “nationalists” e.g. some of them support Brexit and some of them support opposing sports teams.

Migration, Identity and Sovereignty - IGOs and Environmental Problems

• IGOs have been set up for global environmental governance.
• Atmosphere Problems: Montreal Protocol banned CFC gases that destroy the ozone layer
• Climate Change Agreements: 2015 Paris Agreement to reduce GHGs
• Biosphere Problems: CITES tries to stop rare animals and plants been taken from the wild and traded.
• Hydrosphere Problems: UNCLOS tries to manage the world’s oceans e.g. shipping, biodiversity, resources

Examples:

• Helsinki Rules: Manage the world’s rivers as transboundary sources e.g. countries sharing water sources to reduce conflict
• UN Millennium Ecosystem Assessment: Measures the conditions of ecosystems around the world and Antarctic Treaty as it is meant to be used for science not for exploitation.
• Montreal Protocol: Has been successful in banning CFCs from spray cans and fridges that will harm the Ozone layer. Went into place in 1987 and within a few years, the ozone layer had recovered. Still some problems of corruption
• CITES: Tries to stop illegal exploitation and trade of wild animals. 5800 species protected by CITES. Huge task that is hard to manage given the size of the world. Has saved some species but is struggling to stop trade e.g. African elephants which are heavily poached. Huge demand in China for ivory from tusks.
• Paris Agreement: All countries signed up to try and limit GHGs and keep warming below 1.5 by 2100. Had a good level of international cooperation but the agreement was non-binding and not enforced. Then, the USA pulled out.
• UNCLOS: Has a wide environmental responsibility. Ban whaling and save species from extinction e.g. Blue Whale. Has not stopped Norway and Japan from hunting them though. Wider successes include stopping oil production from containerised shipping especially has globalisation has grown. Enforced laws on oil production and reduced the risk of oil spills. Also set up EEZs but has brought geopolitical implications.

Responsibility:

• Includes Antarctic Treaty, a unique global agreement to protect Antarctica from resource extraction and damage for the sake of ‘peace and science.’
• Territory has been shared e.g. UK, Norway and Russia sharing offices. Has been very successful
• Threats from pressure of changing attitudes and action on resource extraction from key players or climate change e.g. mining for metals by China. Mass tourism also increasing which puts pressure on ecosystems.

Evaluation:

• Environmental IGOs have had varying levels of success. Ozone layer and Antarctica have been well protected with good international cooperation and sovereign states agreeing.
• CITES has had some success but still some species are under threat e.g. African elephant. Needs to control emerging markets.
• UN climate change is also partially working but critics argue that is not mitigating enough.
• UNCLOS has had the broadest ranging environmental global benefits.
• In the future, environmental IGOs will be increasingly important as pressures keep rising on the world’s ecosystem as population rises to 9 billion by 2050 and ecological footprints increase.

Migration, Identity and Sovereignty - Impact of IGOs

Establishing:

• The main IGOs of the world were established by WW2 allied nations to stabilise, support and control the world economics.
• They tend to support capitalism as the world’s best economic structure.
• Supporters say that they help economies in need, aid development and open up trade as well increasing economic liberalisation and globalisation
• Opponents say that they maintain neo-colonialism, increase debts of countries and allow FDI and TNCs to take profits from LEDCs.

Impact:

• World Bank: Loans and aid for the reduction of poverty in the long term. Have helped to build big projects e.g mega-dams and infrastructure in Africa.
  • Anti-Globalisation campaigners argue it creates a dependency culture, debt and supports neo- colonialism. In reality one of the biggest problems it faces is corruption e.g African officials keeping the money
  • Does more good than bad as it has helped many countries to develop but at a price to the environment. Sovereignty may be affected as the country has less control over its own future policies.
• IMF: Short-term crisis IGO. Monitors the world and all countries across the development spectrum. Recently gave $40 billion to Greece
  • Benefits: Economic collapse and bankruptcy been avoided. MINT (Mexico, Indonesia, Nigeria and Turkey) countries have benefitted.
  • Weaknesses: They may impose rules and regulations on a country to improve a country e.g asking Greece to up the retirement age. May force some countries to privatise such as water companies.
  • Pressurises countries to let in TNCs and remove ‘protectionism’ in the country to make it economically liberalise, open more free trade and free markets and allow in American aid.
  • When the IMF set this up, it is known as Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAPs). They see government spending reduced and increasing globalisation to allow GDP to rise.
    • Countries like Chad and Bolivia cannot afford to have privatised companies.
  • Have established a Highly Indebted Poor Country (HIPC) which is a debt relief scheme to reduce debt repayments from the poorest countries. Allows economically sustainable debt management but usually at the cost of something else.
• WTO: Tried to increase free trade by removing traffics and quotas. Tries to sort out trade problems and issues globally.
  • Arguments that they are too much in favour of agreements that help the developed world. Difficult to get all countries to agree so progress can be slow.
  • Regional trade blocs (NAFTA & EU) have decreased the significance of IGOs. Struggling to be the dominant IGO.

Membership:

• Almost all countries are members of the IGOs above which shows the importance and dominance of these IGOs. They are the main mechanisms to access loans and financial development aid to set out the rules for accessing the world markets.
• IGOs power has been decreased in recent years through the rise of the trade bloc. Trade blocs have developed their own free-trade agreements. They might change the role of the IGO e.g Germany has given money to Greece, China lending to Chad in exchange for resources.
• BRICs are therefore challenging established IGO domination.

Evaluation: IGOs and Sovereignty
	Positives:	Negatives:
WTO:	Has increased free trade	Benefits MEDCs only
IMF:	[Crisis] aid	Dependency culture and debt
WB:	LEDCs can develop	Reduced power from trade bloc

Evaluation: Trade Blocs and Sovereignty:
Positives:	Negatives:
Can re-interpret sovereignty and people are identified under one umbrella term e.g European	Individual sovereign states have less control on their exports and imports e.g UK government vs EU.
Everyone is under one sovereignty therefore you can become more powerful through nationalism	Nationality can get mixed.
	Trade blocs undermine IGOs.

Migration, Identity and Sovereignty - Global Organisations Managing Global Issues

Growing in Importance:

• The UN was the first post-war IGO to be established and has grown in importance.
• It is responsible for ‘global governance. Set up after World War Two to try and govern and help with global economics, human rights, peace, environment and health.
• Governance: An umbrella term that includes all the ways that codes, rules, regulations are attempted and enforced.
• The UN has been at the forefront of many global conventions such as climate change, development goals and poverty numbers.
• Responsible for global human rights and how humans should be protected and respected e.g. right to life, freedom, fair trial, education etc.
• Made up of 193 states in the general assembly and five permanent members of the security council (UK, China, USA, Russia and France). They do not always agree, and this can be a problem, whilst the UN is meant to help with geopolitical problems in practice, this is difficult.

UN Intervention – 3 Ways:

1. Economic Sanctions: Help to pressurise a country to change without using military action. Many have been applied to North Korea to try and force them to stop building nuclear missiles. A problem is that China is supporting NK.
2. Direct Military Action: Send peacekeeper[s] [missions] to help avert crisis. But, doesn’t always work. The UN wanted to go into Syria, but Russia and China vetoed it and the UN never went in. Did try and get some food and aid into Syria.
   1. The UN also ‘did nothing’ in the Rwandan genocide of 1994, peacekeepers were sent but were scared to be dragged into conflict and so didn’t do anything. 800,000 people died. Recently 20,000 peacekeepers were placed but gathered mixed results as many have been saved but still lots of deaths.
3. Aid: Environmental issues such as climate change through the IPCC. Has helped global governance as countries work together to reduce emissions of GHGs. Paris Agreement is an example, but they are non-binding and don’t always work and America pulled out of the deal in 2017.

Unilateral Intervention:

• USA, UK and Russia have all acted outside the jurisdiction of the UN – they have undertaken military action without UN approval.
• Russia annexed Crimea to stop the rebels from threatening Russia, the UN did not approve it yet there was nothing done to stop it.
• Strong military action was seen after 9/11 when the UK and USA sought to invade Iraq on account of there being weapons of mass destruction, but the UN wanted to send in people to spot them, yet the UK and USA acted without UN approval.
• The war on terror has played a significant role in establishing unilateral movement.

Evaluation:

• Clear that the UN plays an important role in global governance and it has improved peace throughout the world but the failures they have are massive and they have not been able to stop certain outcomes e.g. Russia.
• The ever-more disagreeing security council can cause issues and unilateral action undermines the IGO.
• Only the future will tell if the UN can agree.

Migration, Identity and Sovereignty - Deregulation of Capital Markets

Globalisation Encouraging Growth:

• Globalisation has increased economic liberalism and deregulation of capital markets so there is more free trade, free markets, FDI and TNCs running globally
• Countries attempt to attract more investment by having a ‘low tax’ regime or even a tax-haven (no taxes being paid)
• This means that TNCs and the rich elite pay little or no tax therefore they keep more profits
• Whilst the UK and USA are attractive countries for companies to invest, they have high corporation tax (20%) whereas some other countries (Switzerland) have low corporation tax therefore some companies move headquarters to that country in order to pay less. Known as corporate migration
• UK remains competitive as it has strong benefits such as skilled workers, English language and lots of other TNCs, government support, low corruption and high levels of security.
• Companies use tax avoidance e.g Amazon who only paid 0.0001% of tax on their taking.
• Google has headquarters in different places across the world, they have parent companies that are set up to allow transfer pricing of profits in order to avoid tax
• Tax avoidance and low-tax regimes have advantages such as TNCs making money to develop better products and wages, also improves a country such as Ireland which has benefitted from investors.
• Negatives: Reduces revenues that governments get from tax to spend on health, education. Ethically and morally wrong ultimately, it is an unavoidable consequence of free market capitalism and globalisation

Tax-Havens:

• A more extreme way countries can use the global economic system to financially benefit. Smaller countries often struggle to grow a strong economy in traditional ways so they get rich individuals to place their earnings in a country and they do not get taxed as they would in the UK
• Vital source of income for some smaller states that otherwise would be much poorer. They do however, tax money from larger states that need it to develop and grow.
• IGOs and consumers have campaigned to clamp down on the issue such as the G20 have agreed to impose stricter regulations to make TNCs like Amazon and Google pay fairer tax
• People can protest as they did in Starbucks which can actually harm some TNCs public perception and image of the company

Global Inequalities:

• Growing development gaps are dominated by the rich core countries which can led to opposition movements.
• The top 62 richest people in the world own more wealth than the bottom half. The global economy is dominated by rich TNCs.
• Emerging countries like China tend to add to the situation but the poorest LDCs tend to lose out the most e.g Chad, Congo. But some argue that the system actually helps as dependency such as aids and loans can allow modernisation and development such as that seen in South Korea.
• Alternatives to capitalism could be socialism as they attempt to put society and the people first but this can prove unsustainable as oil prices can fall and the Venezuelan economy has collapsed.
• The capitalist world economic system dominates and it helps the developed countries most, can allow emerging middle-income countries to grow like China and Brazil.
• Tax-havens are a negative effect that some countries use to compete and gain more investments to help them develop, whilst IGOs are attempting to clamp down on them, it is unlikely that socialism can replace capitalism in the long term.

Migration, Identity and Sovereignty - Nationalism

• Having very strong views that your country’s interest are more important than other countries.
• Helps sovereign states get support to protect their own interest in times of need.
• Can be negative e.g racism, stop beneficial immigration or even invade other countries.

19^th Century Nationalism:

• Used by the British Empire to justify invading other places and controlling them
• Helped colonialism by the UK through direct-hard power e.g Navy. Spread of language, tea, cricket etc.
• Caused conflict with British values with various rebellions
• Important for initial development as it aids expansion but it justifies cruelty e.g slavery and stealing resources.

Post 1945:

• Colonies gained their independence from colonial rule e.g India 1947, nation states emerged as a result of this.
• Colonial era ended for reasons e.g British ran out of money so they could maintain control
• Strong political pressure to gain independence e.g Gandhi and were forced out.
• Britain has managed to retain post-colonial links e.g Australia, India.
• Leads to bad governance and competition, ethnic groups may persecute others, lack of skilled workers.
• Superpower conflict can lead to civil wars, e.g Korea. Leads to people dying.

Wind of Change:

• Decolonisation in Africa led to problems in Africa dubbed ‘the wind of change’. DR Congo had been ruled by dictator
• Genocide in neighbouring Rwanda of Tutsi by Hutus.
• Can lead to environmental problems e.g deforestation, GDP has $435, HDI is low, poor life expectancy (48)
• Another example: North Korea and South Korea. Split up into two sovereign states between the USA and USSR. NK is nationalistic and switched off. SK is more globalised and ally of USA. Strong contrast between the two.

Patterns of Migration:

• Imperial core countries have had major changes from former colonies.
• Nationalist movements in Britain to start the empire and then get colonies to gain independence
• Migrants invited to fill skill shortages. Opposite to homogenous, increased cultural heterogeneity
• Indians bringing curry, Jamaicans bringing reggae.
• Some migrants are like this, but most are economic whilst some move to join family members.

Migration, Identity and Sovereignty - Evolving Nation States

• State: A territory over which no other country holds power or sovereignty.
• There are 196 according to the UN in 2016
• Nation State: A sovereign state of which most of the citizens or subjects are united also by factors which define a nation, such as language or common descent.
• Sovereignty: The ability or power of a place and its people to self-govern without outside interference.
• A nation may not have sovereignty over themselves e.g. Wales and Scotland do not make their own laws.
• Some dependencies that are territories that belong to other countries e.g. Greenland belonging to Denmark.

Varying Nation States:

• Nation states and culture can be very diverse e.g. USA has a range of immigrants from Europe and South America and also indigenous cultures e.g. North American Indians.
• Some countries have a homogeneous culture: Society where there is very little cultural or ethnic diversity e.g. sharing the same traits of other people.
• Migration is the most important factor in affecting the diversity or homogeneity of a state, some countries have encouraged immigration to get more skilled workers.
• Country that are switched off tend to have less migration therefore they remain less multicultural and end up more homogeneous.

Comparing Iceland & Singapore:
Iceland:	Singapore:
Physically isolated small island	Diverse
Small population, cold climate	Asian Tiger Economy due to fast growth and globalisation
Strict immigration laws	One of the world’s highest GDP
Developed industry in fishing and tourism	Variety of immigrants from Europe and Asia
Old and strong traditions. Globalisation reversed.	British Empire developed leading to a globalisation boom and very mixed ethnic groups. Unity is mixed.

National Borders:

• Established due to physical geography and historical developments.
• Some areas are united e.g. UK, Australia and some aren’t e.g. Europe which broadly links to a language map.
• In Africa and the Middle East, the political boundaries do not match the cultural and ethnic groups which creates tensions, conflict and the problems of sovereignty.
• DR Congo has 240 ethnic groups, and these have been the reasons for many ongoing conflicts e.g. Hutu vs Tutsi groups who have fought to kill each other and hundreds of others.
• Middle Easy has similar problems with 25 million Kurdish people split between Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Iran. This creates problems as the Kurdish people want to set up their own sovereign state (Kurdistan) and the rise of IS has led to problems.
• Problems for superpowers as they involved due to energy resources and also the location – on the edge of Europe.

Contested Borders:

• Crimea area of Ukraine where Russia has taken over as they argued that Ukraine did not the sovereign right to the area. Also, mainly contains ethnic Russian populations. The war in 2014 caused 9000 deaths.
• Also, areas of conflict are Kashmir.
• Some nation states are not recognised by the UN e.g. Taiwan which is independent, yet China claims sovereignty over the area. Taiwan and the USA support each other which may hinder relationships.

Migration, Identity and Sovereignty - Consequences of Migration

Changing Composition:

• Cultural differences are broader and there are variations in traditions e.g music, sport, food and language.
• Some groups may fit under an umbrella term e.g ‘White’ but may be a different ethnicity e.g ‘White Irish’
• Ethnicity: Shared identity of an ethnic group based on common ancestral routes based on strong cultural characterises e.g language, religion, diet and clothes.
• Brings diversity and cultural diffusion which may be a positive addition to countries
• Need to assimilate into society: Adopting cultural traits belonging to a host nation by minority communities e.g learning English which may reduce tensions e.g Racism.

Tensions:

• Causes major political tensions and problems as people have different perceptions and are different
• When people’s views are more extreme, conflict is more likely to arise.
• Case Study: 2001 Bradford Riots which arised as a result of the growing BME community vs the White community lead to 85 policemen injured whilst causing £10 million damage.
• Current concerns in the UK as immigration is coming from the EU. Economic issues including impact on services e.g NHS and national issues e.g security
• Cultural change may not be wanted by some people

Geography of Abilities:

• The ability to migrate depends on wealth and host countries borders.
• Rich Russians can easily migrate into London as the government allowed them
• Migrants from the Gulf States may struggle as they have little money and the economy in the host country may not be able to keep up with people not working.
• Congo is switched off which may limit migration as they are not globalised.

Migration, Identity and Sovereignty - Causes of Migration

Main Causes:

• Work and money: Economic migration.
• Second biggest reason is to join family members.
• Economic migrants can be internal or international.
• Rural-urban migration is the biggest movement of people globally, often for work.
• Internal migration is popular between Asian countries, in the EU and even the Middle East due to more conflicts.

Why Are Migrants Increasing:

• More population leads to more migrants e.g rural India,
• More economic opportunities and globalisation e.g Chinese coast, increasing development and infrastructure
• Environmental changes such as droughts and floods in Chad from climate change creating refugees, more war and conflict in Syria.
• Russian Elite in London migrating for safety and investment opportunities.
• Diaspora has been growing in the EU is illegal immigrants from the Middle East and North Africa, they flee poverty, war and conflict in places such as Chad. E.g 1 million ‘boat people’ tried to cross the sea. They want better work and pay. They send remittance back home and improve skills shortages in key areas.
• Hate crimes and conflicts increase, other ethical issues arise such as migrant boats sinking and bad perception of migrants being criminals.
• 1 million Polish migrant workers fill farm jobs, dentists and boosts the economy. Diasporas and immigration change UK culture, lead to tensions in society and ‘take our jobs.’

Movement of Labour:

• Free movement of people means labour needs are met and movement is restricted. Occurs in all almost all countries of the world e.g UK anyone is free to move and work in cities or global hub.
• Wealth and money can trickle down to the rest of society through a multiplier effect. Huge benefits for a country but can have regional negatives such as young people leaving rural areas.
• Leads to depopulation, lack of skilled workers like teachers, cultural erosion.

Is Free Movement Good or Bad:
Good:	Bad:
Social, economic, environmental and political positives and negatives	Skills shortages in source country
Poland has benefitted from remittances sent from home	Problems with ageing population

Overview:

• Migration occurs for many different reasons and has many different forms
• Will increase in the future
• Has positives and negatives on all countries involved.
• Government has lots of control over migration.

Migration, Identity and Sovereignty - Globalisation Leading to Migration

Globalisation:

• Globalisation increases migration increasing internal migration and international migration
• Improvement and globalisation of transport allows people to move easily and cheaply
• Globalisation of economic activity means jobs increase in certain areas attracting more migrants e.g Gulf States jobs mean more move there. It spreads the awareness
• Most global migrants are internal economic migrants e.g moving west to east coast in China
• Move due to push and pull factors often from more switched off places to global hubs e.g Bolton to London. They send remittance back to the source country. Open Door Policy in China has increased this in China.

Policies:

• EU has allowed citizens to move freely e.g 1 million Polish people to the UK
• Schengen Agreement has led to open borders in the EU e.g Germany has open doors, so goods and people can get in more easily
• Reduces cost and restrictions of movement but some disagree as it allows criminals to move freely
• Japan and Australia have tight restrictions on immigration
• Expatriates are nationals of a country who live in another country e.g UK residents who retire in Spain
• Country with the most expats tend to have rich countries as neighbours with good jobs chances. Migrant workers may move elsewhere. Low number in China as they have a good sense of national identity.

Patterns of International Migration:

• Migrants can be economic, voluntary, refugees or asylum. Brexit may be likely to stop this in the UK
• Middle East has a big number of these as they are hit by civil wars and therefore they have more migrants
• Climate change in Chad means that there will be more environmental migrants. Maldives may also see this
• More population and development = more migrants in the future.

Superpowers - Challenges in Superpowers

Economic Problems:

• SPs look to maintain their dominance in the global economy whilst maintaining the rise of the BRIC and other Asian countries.
• Main competition is to keep up with economic growth and rising GDP in the face of competition.
• As the world develops economic restructuring may be needed on declining primary and secondary industry e.g Detroit and Bolton.
• Major problems: Ageing population, huge debts causing deprivation. SPs deal with increasing government debt. Restructuring economy.
• Political unrest can bring economic problems – will the UK leaving the EU affect the amount of money the EU is getting? Will they still be a contender as an emerging superpower once the UK leaves?

Economic Cost:

• Maintaining the military can be an economic drain e.g USA spends $600 billion on the military. They also spend money on NASA. All of this helps to maintain hyperpower status but as emerging powers grow, different military will begin to test their status and they may not be able to grow.
• The EU is looking to have it’s own army which may challenge the USA army. Will this be stronger with or without the UK?

Futures:

• Very uncertain
• Possibly a hyperpower or multi-polar world. 2030 is predicted to bring no change but 2050 may see the a bi-polar world at least.