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Even before civil society actors started to carry out rescues at sea, state-led rescue operations were ended after being blamed to lead to increased migrant crossings from northern Africa (Photo: consilium.europa.eu)

Migration: Let us put the 'pull factor' myth finally to rest

Whenever I hear the term 'pull factor', a sigh escapes my lips. Unfortunately, this occurs several times a day at the moment, given the term's inflationary use in the many polarised, if not to say hysterical, debates over migration.

The 'push/pull' model goes back to the 19th century and the work of Ernest George Ravenstein who sought to develop 'laws of migration' that would allow to understand and even predict human migration. Migration scholars have since tried to identify the myriad...

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The views expressed in this opinion piece are the author’s, not those of EUobserver

Author Bio

Dr Maurice Stierl is a researcher at the Institute for Migration Research and Intercultural Studies, Osnabrück University, Germany, where he leads the research group The Production of Knowledge on Migration.

Even before civil society actors started to carry out rescues at sea, state-led rescue operations were ended after being blamed to lead to increased migrant crossings from northern Africa (Photo: consilium.europa.eu)

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Author Bio

Dr Maurice Stierl is a researcher at the Institute for Migration Research and Intercultural Studies, Osnabrück University, Germany, where he leads the research group The Production of Knowledge on Migration.

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