Papers > By author > Cerulli Simone

Since 2008, one of the most evident outcomes of the economic crisis seems to be the exacerbation of migratory policies in the West, which makes borders less and less permeable. 

This paper tries to analyse how and why many governments of the western countries, far from facing an actual migration emergency, are taking advantage of the economic crisis to justify, in front of their public opinion, the adoption of discriminatory policies about migration in order to polarize the flux of migrants in two categories: those who are welcome, and those who are not.

Some of western institutions like universities, trying to go global and in order to attract more and more high-potential international students from the global South, are involved in affecting the imagination, aspirations and ideas of future of a consistent part of individuals or families from developing countries. 

While the people from the rich classes gain access to the most popular systems of higher education, turning their attention especially towards English-speaking nations like the United States, those belonging to the middle class, not to talk of those from the lower strata, are unable to overcome the strict measures of selection these countries have enabled. 

Focusing on the case study of Bangladeshi emigration towards Europe, a phenomenon which, far from being fuelled simply by economic reasons, can in many cases be read through the lens of educational purposes, it is possible to understand that, while seductive imaginaries of other life models exert a fascination on all social classes, only the élites manage to overcome the obstacles imposed by closed-door policies. Such process increases the polarisation of a two-speed world, widening the gap between those who can move freely, and the undesirable who are invited to remain in their country of origin and therefore forced to turn to illegal expedients.

In this sense, the migration device increasingly adheres to the logic of market economy that attempts to regulate the human beings' flux according to the laws of demand and supply: as a limited-availability good, the possibility to freely move across the world, visas and citizenship are perceived as a scarce good that must be seized, whose access can be regulated, and whose possess can be cumulated by élites.