Going East: Managing Transformation via International Mobility

In the last few decades the mobility of labor has increased all over the world. More & more regions & states have been included in these migrations. Acceleration, differentiation & feminization have been dominant features of these movements. Processes of globalization, the restructuring of the international division of labor, the ongoing polarization between developed & developing countries & the transformation in the formerly socialist states are some of the most important reasons for the sharp increase of the migration flows. It is assumed that especially the mobility of highly skilled manpower will increase further in the near future. This is to be explained mainly by the processes of globalization & the reshaping of the international division of labor through the introduction of new communication & production technologies. At the same time the former socialist states in Eastern Europe are undergoing crucial transformations. The privatization of the former state-controlled companies & the orientation of the economies of the states towards competition & the market economy integrates them into existing international market & power relations. These countries are expected -- & on this the various bi- & multilateral aid programs leave no doubt -- to take up the western mode of economic development. It is not so much the fact of the engagement per se, but the dynamics & the speed of the process, which are critical. In this article we assume that the mobility of highly qualified western personnel is a structuring moment in the transformation process of Poland & that this type of mobility is also connected with the world-wide migrations in the past decades. References. Adapted from the source document.