How should we study Migration in the Meso-North American System?

Abstract

This article answers the question: how should we study the migratory phenomenon in the Meso-North American system? To answer this question, the article proposes five strategies that allow the analysis and understanding of migration in an integral way, which are: 1) disaggregate the analysis in its five international components (emigration, immigration, migration in transit, return migration, and refuge); 2) examine it regionally as a migratory system; 3) study it in a multi-causal way, organizing the variables in two categories (“push” y “pull”), and then, disaggregating the causal variables in types (political, economic, security, environment, social, among others); 4) analyze it rationally as a phenomenon and not a problem; and, 5) evaluate whether the “5-Cs” of good migration policies are followed (coherence, consistence, co-responsibility, coordination, and cooperation).