Alongside flows of trade and capital, the free movement of professionals, technical personnel, and students is seen as a key aspect of globalization. Yet not much detailed empirical research has been completed about the trajectories and experiences of these highly skilled or highly educated international migrants. What little is known about these forms of "global mobility," and the politics that surround them, contrasts with the abundant theories and accounts of other types of international migration--such as low income economic migration from less developed to core countries in the international political economy. Drawing on the work of a long-standing discussion group at the Center for Comparative and Global Research of UCLA's International Institute, this collection bridges conventional methodological divides, bringing together political scientists, sociologists, demographers, and ethnographers. It explores the reality behind assumptions about these new global migration trends. It challenges widely held views about the elite characteristics of these migrants, the costs and consequences of the brain drain said to follow from the migration of skilled workers, the determinants of national policies on high skilled migrants, and the presumed "effortlessness" of professional mobility in an integrating world. The volume also sheds new light on international student migration, the politics of temporary, non-immigrant workers in the United States, new international forms of regulating movement, and the realities of the everyday lives of multinational employees in the world's transnational cities. Key differences between the regional contexts of this migration in Europe, North America, and the Asia-Pacific are also emphasized.

Human mobility has been a defining feature of human social evolution. In a global community, the term "mobility" captures the full gamut of types, directions, and patterns of human movement. The psychology of mobility is important because movement is inherently behavioral. Much of the behavioral study of mobility has focused on the negative – examining the trauma of forced migration, or the health consequences of the lack of adaptation – but this work looks into the benefits of mobility, such as its impact on career capital and well-being. Recent years have witnessed a phenomenal increase in efforts to understand human mobility, by social scientists, think-tanks, and policymakers alike. The book focuses on the transformational potential of mobility for human development. The book details the historical, methodological, and theoretical trajectory of human mobility (Context), followed by sections on pre-departure incentives and predispositions (Motivation), influences on acculturation, health and community fit (Adjustment), and changes in career capital, overcoming bias, and diaspora networks (Performance).

Human mobility has been a defining feature of human social evolution. In a global community, the term "mobility" captures the full gamut of types, directions, and patterns of human movement. The psychology of mobility is important because movement is inherently behavioral. Much of the behavioral study of mobility has focused on the negative – examining the trauma of forced migration, or the health consequences of the lack of adaptation – but this work looks into the benefits of mobility, such as its impact on career capital and well-being. Recent years have witnessed a phenomenal increase in efforts to understand human mobility, by social scientists, think-tanks, and policymakers alike. The book focuses on the transformational potential of mobility for human development. The book details the historical, methodological, and theoretical trajectory of human mobility (Context), followed by sections on pre-departure incentives and predispositions (Motivation), influences on acculturation, health and community fit (Adjustment), and changes in career capital, overcoming bias, and diaspora networks (Performance).

This volume examines self-initiated expatriates (SIEs), the category of highly skilled people whose movement from one country to another is by choice. Although they are not forced to relocate due to work, conflict or natural disaster, their migration pattern is every bit as complex. The book challenges previous theoretical approaches that take for granted a more simplistic view of this population, and advances that mobility of SIEs relates to the expatriates themselves, their conditions and the different structures intervening in their career life course. With their visible increase worldwide, this book positions itself as a nexus for this on-going discussion, while linking self-initiated expatriation to the theoretical landscape of international skilled migration and mobility. Major interests that catch attention are transnational practices, work-related experiences and personal life course, including forms of inequalities in their migration experiences. The book identifies forms and drivers of migratory behaviour and provides an argument concerning the broader processes of mobility and integration. As such, this book constitutes a departure point for future research in terms of theoretical underpinnings and empirical rigor on global highly skilled mobility of SIEs. The collection of empirical case studies offers an insightful analysis for policy makers, concerned stakeholders and organizations to better cope with this form of migration.

The extent to which ordinary people can construct, shift, and dismantle borders is seriously neglected in the existing literature. The book explores the ability of citizens to participate in the making of borders, and the empowerment that can result from this bordering and debordering activity. ‘Borderwork’ is the name given to the ways in which ordinary people can make and unmake borders. Borderwork is no longer only the business of nation-states, it is also the business of citizens (and indeed non-citizens). This study of ‘borderwork’ extends the recent interest in forms of bordering which do not necessarily occur at the state’s external borders. However, the changing nature of borders cannot be reduced to a shift from the edges to the interior of a polity. To date little research has been conducted on the role of ordinary people in envisioning, constructing, maintaining, shifting, and erasing borders; creating borders which facilitate mobility for some while creating barriers to mobility for others; appropriating the political resources which bordering offers; contesting the legitimacy of or undermining the borders imposed by others. This book makes an original contribution to the literature and stands to set the agenda for a new dimension of border studies. This book was published as a special issue of Space and Polity.

The formation and characteristics of a nation’s middle class are shaped by historical context and the developmental path that has been followed. However, can the same be said of the ethnic Chinese middle classes in Taiwan, China, Hong Kong, and Macao? Given the divergent political and economic experiences under which the respective middle classes were created, established, shaped, and reshaped, can they still be characterized as a homogenous group of ‘Chinese middle classes’, or are they more unique within each country? Using systematic survey data analysis and case studies to examine and compare the emerging middle classes in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macao and Urban China, this book explores whether the middle classes in these countries possess any uniquely ‘Chinese’ features, or if these are shared attributes that can be found in other non-Chinese middle classes in the Asia-Pacific region. It analyses the formation, profile, culture, lifestyles, mobility, and politics of the middle class groups in each country, and highlights the differences and similarities that emerge, and focuses in particular on increased mobility, financial resilience, class anxiety, and political interest and effectiveness. This book will be of great interest to students and scholars interested in Asian middle classes, Chinese studies, Chinese societies, Chinese ethnicity and Chinese politics.