Migration is by many accounts one of the key defining issues of our day. Although
the movement of individuals and whole communities is indeed as old as humanity
itself, human mobility in today’s increasingly interconnected world is exceptional
not only in scale, but more notably in scope (Goldin et al., 2012; Castles et al.,
2013). That is not to discount a more nuanced consideration of contemporary
migration patterns in comparison to times past (see, e.g., Czaika & de Haas, 2014),
but as Skeldon (2015, p. 2357) remarks, it “seems incontrovertible that there are
more people moving in more ways in the world today than ever before”.
Corresponding to a growing appreciation of contemporary migration, there is also a
heightened debate concerning the link between migration and wider development
processes. In particular, the role of migration as a driver of human development is
increasingly recognized by a range of actors outside of traditional scholarly circles
including international organizations, government bodies and civil society groups.
The inclusion of migration as a subject matter, or migrants as a group, in five of the
17 recently agreed upon Sustainable Development Goals is just the latest result of a
years-long effort to mainstream migration-related themes into development
policies (Bakewell, 2015). As popular interest in the migration-development nexus
gains momentum, it appears to be an opportune moment to reinvest time and effort
in advancing our understanding of the deeper complexities related to migration and
development in order to maintain a well-informed discussion.