Years fly, planets continue to move, even continents are in constant movement. All this happens due to various kinds of physical laws and happens on its own. What can not be said about such a phenomenon in the life of mankind and individual countries as emigration.
Who is the emigrant?
Before you begin to know all the nuances, you need to understand the definition. So what is emigration and who are emigrants? These are citizens who voluntarily move from one country to another. Emigration, in contrast to the above phenomena, is not due to the laws of nature. She, like her brother - immigration (do not confuse these two concepts, they are absolutely opposite in meaning), arises for many other reasons, such as political repression, wars, low social and economic living standards, natural and man-made disasters, family reunion , interethnic and interfaith conflicts, etc.
You should also not confuse such people with migrants (those who change their place of residence on the territory of the same state). An emigrant is a person moving not within the country, as in the case described above, but crossing the state’s border, in other words, traveling outside its borders.
Some terminology
A number of other words are also associated with the term emigration, the meanings of which will allow a deeper understanding of the essence of this process. You can start with the branch of science, thanks to which we have knowledge on the development or deterioration of the phenomenon we are considering. It is about migration.
According to her, the term expat (this is leaving the country) has a peculiar antonym, a definition opposite in meaning: immigrant. This person, on the contrary, is entering the country. That is, a person chooses a certain state as his new permanent residence.
Re-emigration is also strongly associated with the concept of emigration, which means the return of the “prodigal son” (emigrant) to the country from which he moved. The factors contributing to this phenomenon are most often the improvement of the political, social, economic or, for example, environmental situation. Everything is fine, the crisis is over, why not return to your homeland?
One of the important processes that have much in common with emigration, and to be more precise, representing one of its categories, is repatriation - this is arrival in a country, which may not be the birthplace of a person, but was once such for his ancestors.
Political emigrants
One of the main reasons for emigration is primarily the political aspects. The number of such emigrants is not so large, but in order for a person to be forced to leave his native country, you need to try hard, right? The definition of “political emigrant” is attributed to a person who was forced to leave his homeland due to religious, racial, political, caste oppression and persecution, as well as due to nationalist extremist ideas, etc.
The most famous political emigrants, forced to leave their country at different times, were:
- A. V. Litvinenko is a former employee of the KGB of the USSR, later the FSB of Russia, who criticized the Russian state regime and directly the policies of V.V. Putin. Got political asylum in the UK.
- B. A. Berezovsky is a Russian statesman and politician, entrepreneur who emigrated to the UK as a result of the initiation of many criminal cases on charges of fraud, an attempt to seize power, and money laundering, where he accepted the status of a political refugee.
- E. Snowden is a former American employee of the CIA, as well as the NSA, who received temporary political asylum in the Russian Federation in connection with charges of embezzlement of state property, as well as espionage.
Recently moving
Along with all kinds of immigrants, there is such a subtype as transitional emigrants - these are citizens who leave their native lands and move to a permanent place of residence in neighboring states. For example, two of the most well-known groups of such individuals can be distinguished, which can now often be heard on the news. The leading positions are occupied by US transitional emigrants - people who move to the States from the countries of North and Central America, as well as (due to the current situation) refugees from the eastern and southern regions of Ukraine, urgently moving to Russia. They have different reasons. If the former are resettled due to the extremely low financial situation, then numerous groups of Ukrainians seek to enter the territory of the Russian Federation due to the outbreak of armed conflict.
Intellectual emigration
Intellectual emigration (in other words, brain drain) means the departure of people with higher education, master's and doctoral degrees, to other countries. Such a trip is explained by various kinds of reasons that can be characterized by the following examples: the very low prestige of the very status of a scientist in the country; inadequate material and technical base blocking opportunities for discoveries; various political aspects; scanty financial support, as well as low wages, etc. Emigration, like the concept of an emigrant, is by no means the best indicator of any state. Its level demonstrates, literally, the outflow of people from the country, which means the absence of a suitable environment for them. Developing countries, for example, former European colonies located in East and South Asia, as well as in Africa, are subject to the most intellectual emigration. The term "brain drain" is also, unfortunately, applicable to a number of former socialist countries located within Eastern Europe.
Russian emigration
Departure from the territory of both the former Soviet state and modern Russia also took place and is taking place, and, unlike other states, this process can be divided into four streams (waves). The first was observed during and after the Civil War in Russia. Such prominent figures of science and art as V.K. Zvorykin, F.I. Chaliapin, N.O. Lossky, N. A Berdyaev and others became one of the most famous emigrants of this period. The second wave occurred during the Second World War. The third stream of emigrants refers to the times of the Cold War, that is, 50-90 years. The fourth wave occurred during the collapse of the USSR. It was associated with differences in political views, as well as a temporary deterioration in the social and economic standard of living. At the present stage, there is still a problem of the outflow of the indigenous population, especially prominent scientists, as well as graduates of higher educational institutions.