General Research on Cross-Border Migrations Related to Conflicts in the Middle East

Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B) 16H03307 (2012-2014)

Summary

This study, with regard to the cross-border movements being witnessed resulting from conflicts in Syria and Iraq, intends to elucidate how “immigrants and refugees” who travel around and “infiltrators” who try to join Islamic extremists or like form their political perception, what sort of motivations and situation assessments they have based on which they travel around, and how they determine their final destinations and transit points. For attaining this purpose, the true answers to these questions will be pursued by particularly focusing on the attributes (age, sex, hometown, economic strata, etc.) of social groups that the immigrants/refugees and infiltrators belong to. The analyses are to be done including with both of those immigrants/refugees flowing out of an area of conflict and those flowing into it. With such analyses, the types of factors that determine the direction they head in, the relationships between the behaviors of conflicts and the movement of people, the impacts on the international community made by regional conflicts and other matters are going to be revealed in a comprehensive manner.

Members

Principal Investigator

  • Yutaka TAKAOKA (Chief Research Fellow, Middle East Institute of Japan)

Co-Investigators

  • Shingo HAMANAKA (Professor, Faculty of Law, Ryukoku University)
  • Dai YAMAO (Associate Professor, Faculty of Social and Cultural Studies, Kyushu University)
  • Kohei IMAI (Researcher, Area Studies Center, Institute of Developing Economic–JETRO)

Outcomes

Created in April 2016