Abstract: This paper argues the importance of ethnic affinity in determining migration patterns using a newly constructed late- and post-Soviet dataset. The members of various indigenous ethnic groups, who had been spread across the Soviet territories, had to decide whether or not to leave the land in which they suddenly became diaspora after the dissolution of the USSR. The migration literature conventionally claims that potential migrants respond to the economic differentials between source and destination, but the post-Soviet case reveals that ethnicity also played a crucial and independent role in migration decision and destination choice. The trend of ethnic un-mixing is evidently seen in the novel dataset regarding the regional migration patterns of major ethnic groups in the post-Soviet space. Econometric analyses using this dataset also confirm that ethnic composition of a region, along with labour market conditions, has significant effects on the regional migration patterns.
Abstract: This paper aims to reveal how the frequency and size of violent incidents were influenced by regional ethnic diversity in the Soviet period. I investigate the effect of this migration in shaping the ethnic fractionalisation and polarisation index of each region, concluding that the ethnic diversity did increase in many regions during the last decade of the Soviet period. The titular ethnic groups moving out of their own national territory explain this increase, confirming that ethnic mixing happened. Based on this result, I analyse whether the historically shaped ethnic diversity played a significant role in bringing about these violent incidents. I found that more diverse regions tend to have bigger and more frequent protests and riots related to ethnic and nationalist demand, while the relationship between these two may not be linear. Another finding is that, while the level of ethnic diversity has negative impact, the increase in diversity due to migration mitigates this impact. This can be partly explained by “contact hypothesis”, arguing more interaction between different groups fosters interethnic tolerance, while it is also attributable to the nationalist consolidation in the non-Russian regions where ethnic Russians left and became more homogeneous.
This paper seeks to find the reasons for the contrast migration behaviours of two remarkably similar ethnic groups, Soviet Jews and Soviet Koreans, by investigating the similarities and differences shown between these two groups. While many Soviet Jews went to their newly founded national state, Israel, Soviet Koreans did not leave for Korea during the post-Soviet transition period. Economic concerns did trigger the mass migration of Soviet Jews, but given the fact that the Koreans had similar economic benefits of emigration, the role of economic factors may have been limited. A formerly established community of immigrants from the Soviet Union in Israel and the unique repatriation policy appear to have exerted a bigger influence on decisions of prospect migrants. The impact of these two factors is made more convincing because Korea had neither previous FSU migrant stock nor policies to attract their compatriots abroad. A simple time-series analysis considering three factors altogether vastly confirms the conclusion of the comparative study.
Beyond Race: Changing Patterns of Intermarriage in 20th Century Cape Town (with Johan Fourie)
'There is only one mother': The impact of mothers on the health of children in rural Spain, 1750-1960. (With Francisco Marco and Amy Rommelspacher)
Migration, urbanization and segregation: A case study of Cape Town (with Johan Fourie and Nobungcwele Mbem)
War and Peace: the effect of military experience on interracial marriages (with Johan Fourie and Kris Inwood)