Human smuggling networks operating between Middle East and the European Union: evidence from Iranian, Iraqi and Afghani migrants in the Netherlands

"Due to its challenging nature of traditional perspectives, human smuggling is always on the agenda of decision makers, politicians, media and academia. This article focuses on human smuggling between Middle East into the European Union, especially the Netherlands. Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan are the chosen countries from the region since there are increasing numbers of asylum seekers in Europe. The article briefly looks at different perspectives in the literature and then concentrates on the involvement of transnational organized crime in the process of human smuggling. Then it will try to analyze organized crime perspective by network analysis." (author's abstract

Asymmetries in Transnational Social Protection:Perspectives of Migrants and Nonmigrants

This study investigates the extent to which migrants’ embeddedness in two formal social protection systems (country of origin and host country) influences the resources they exchange in their informal supportive relationships. I analyze the support networks of a matched sample of Turkish migrants in Germany and their significant others in Turkey to illuminate the conditions and meaning of reciprocal resource exchanges, finding that both migrants and nonmigrants perceive formal social protection offered by Germany as superior to that of Turkey. I show that those perceptions have implications for how financial support is exchanged with the family but have less impact on friendships. These implications for family included unequal power relationships, changes in equity among siblings and family, different valuation processes of resources, and thus, (reciprocal) exchanges

Prof. Dr. Yılmaz Önge'nin Biyografisi

[No Abstract Available

Lost in status? Temporary, permanent, potential, highly skilled ; the international student mobility

"Despite their expanding significance in a globalizing world today, international students are not thoroughly studied. The international student mobility is not a contemporary phenomenon, yet the examination of such mobility within theoretical concepts is a contemporary one. The concept of transnational social space combines the sending and receiving contexts used in analyzing different forms of migration; however not for international students yet. This article first examines the general definitions in the literature related to international student mobility and shows the complexity regarding to their status. Then it suggests the necessity and convenience of applying transnational social space concept as a tool used currently in migration studies." (author's abstract

Personal Network Analysis from an Intersectional Perspective:How to Overcome Ethnicity Bias in Migration Research

Through qualitative personal network analysis from an intersectional perspective, this article contributes to the debate on the salience of ethnicity as a defining, yet essentialized, category in transnational migration research. The article includes a theoretical and methodological discussion of qualitative personal network analysis as a means to alleviate the risks of overemphasizing ethnicity over other categories, which provides the background to the empirical analysis. Drawing on 20 personal networks and qualitative interviews with Chinese international students who were studying in the United States, the findings of this study indicate that ethnicity, as a precursor to culture, along with gender and class, is important in friendship formations but not necessarily for job‐relevant issues. Moreover, through an intersectional personal network analysis, transnational family ties were problematized based not on their ethnicity but on gendered expectations and social norms

From being departure to destination point: international student mobility in Turkey

"If internationalization of higher education is defined as particular policies and initiatives of countries and academic institutions structured to handle global trends, then policies stimulating international student mobility and students themselves are indispensable components of this process. In the European context, it is the Bologna Process which promotes internal mobility of students, teachers, and administrative staff, and establish a framework of magnifying competition to magnetize international students and have a general purpose of transforming Europe into a prominent knowledge-based society. This article first briefly explains the Bologna Process and its main goals. Subsequently, it will give a brief overview of Turkish higher education system and demonstrates developments and implementations of the Bologna Process. Next, it will concentrate on the situation of international students in Turkey. Consequently, it has several recommendations on how to attract more international students and thus move a step closer to be a knowledge-based society in a globalizing environment." (author's abstract

Turkey’s ambivalence toward joining a US coalition against IS reflects the country’s difficult strategic position

The United States has been in the process of building a coalition of countries against IS militants in Iraq. Although Turkey has been involved in these discussions, it did not sign a joint statement which was backed by a number of other states in the region. Ryan Kennedy and Halil Bilecen write on Turkey’s difficult strategic position, noting that the country is attempting to balance several competing interests. These include attempts to free 49 Turkish hostages currently held by IS, and Turkey’s complex relationship with the Kurdish populations both within and beyond its borders

Transnationalism - Updated

This chapter examines transnationalism in migration studies. First, we investigate the initial conceptualizations of the transnational perspective on migration and efforts at systematization. Second, we evaluate the discussions around contentious issues regarding past vs. present transnationalism, the extent of transnationalism among migrants, and transnationalism, globalization, states and politics. We outline a typology of transnationalism in which transnational social spaces are differentiated according to the internal characteristics of group organization and the extent of common or shared values and symbols. Third, we examine methodological notes on transnational research where we assess the term transnationality. We identify multiple research techniques used in transnational studies and conclude that nowadays mixed methods research is on the rise. Finally, we offer some venues for further research through a transnational optic where the focus should be on changing boundaries as social spaces are composed of dynamic processes

The isolation paradox:A comparative study of social support and health across migrant generations in the US

Social isolation and international migration have potentially adverse effects on physical and mental health, and may compound each other when migrants have limited access to supportive social networks. This problem may be particularly serious in older age groups, who are more vulnerable to illness and isolation. We analyze population representative data from a detailed survey of social networks and health in the San Francisco Bay Area, U.S., to compare access to different types of social support and health outcomes among first-generation migrants, second-generation migrants, and nonmigrants between 50 and 70 years old (N = 674). We find that first-generation migrants report systematically lower levels of social support and poorer self-rated health compared to nonmigrants, even after controlling for sociodemographic characteristics. While social support is strongly and positively associated with health in the general population, this relationship is null or, in some cases, reversed among migrants in the first and second generations. These results provide further evidence that migration operates as an adverse social determinant of health, and suggest an isolation paradox: migrants are healthier than nonmigrants only at very low levels of social support, and they do not experience the same beneficial health effects of social support as nonmigrants