Mass preferences for the free movement of people in Africa: a public opinion analysis of 36 countries
SOURCE: International Migration Review
OUTPUT TYPE: Journal Article
PUBLICATION YEAR: 1974
TITLE AUTHOR(S): S.Gordon
KEYWORDS: AFRICA, ECONOMIC GROWTH, MIGRATION
DEPARTMENT: Developmental, Capable and Ethical State (DCES)
Print: HSRC Library: shelf number 12796
HANDLE: 20.500.11910/18882
URI: http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11910/18882
OUTPUT TYPE: Journal Article
PUBLICATION YEAR: 1974
TITLE AUTHOR(S): S.Gordon
KEYWORDS: AFRICA, ECONOMIC GROWTH, MIGRATION
DEPARTMENT: Developmental, Capable and Ethical State (DCES)
Print: HSRC Library: shelf number 12796
HANDLE: 20.500.11910/18882
URI: http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11910/18882
If you would like to obtain a copy of this Research Output, please contact Hanlie Baudin at researchoutputs@hsrc.ac.za.
Abstract
The African Union (AU) has identified opening borders to cross-national mobility as a prime strategic goal, and AU leaders have heralded regional free movement as a vital tool for economic growth and skills development on the continent. Little, however, is known about the level (or determinants) of public support for opening borders in the AU. This article examines public preferences for free movement among 36 African countries. Using data from the sixth round of the Afrobarometer Survey (N - 53,935), the analysis presented here shows a remarkable degree of variation in mobility-related preferences both within and between nations, and explores whether a utilitarian model of attitude formation can explain mass preferences for open borders across African countries. Investigating both macro- and micro-level determinants of public attitudes toward border control, the article shows that the utilitarian model had greater explanatory power at the macro-level than at the micro-level. In addition, some support was found for identity-based predictors (e.g., nationalism versus cosmopolitanism) of support for free movement. These outcomes point toward a new way of understanding public attitudes toward regional integration in Africa. The article concludes by discussing future avenues of public opinion research toward mobility rights on the continent and beyond.-
Related Research Outputs:
- NEPAD and neighbours: an international exploration of principles to inform African labour migration regimes
- Learning about poverty and migration in Africa: a networking initiative for an African migration alliance
- What are Africa's issues in migration policy?: contributions from the African migration internal workshop 2005
- What are Africa's issues in migration policy?: contributions from the African migration internal workshop 2005
- What are Africa's issues in migration policy?: contributions from the African migration internal workshop 2005
- South Africa in Africa: scrambling for energy
- Views on migration in Sub-Saharan Africa: proceedings of an African migration alliance workshop
- Introduction
- A discussion of migration and migration patterns and flows in Africa
- Book review: Konadu-Agyemang, K., Panford, K. (eds.) Africa's development in the twenty-first century: pertinent socio-economic and development issues
- Conclusion: setting the agenda for the sixth FOCAC
- Fifth African Unity for Renaissance Conference and Africa Day Expo 2015 and Beyond: engaging Agenda 2063: conference report: 22-25 May
- Policy and institutional dimensions of Africa's political economy in an age of globalization
- Prerequisites for integration on the African continent: a P2P perspective
- Technology, tourism, malls and metros - promises and pitfalls of tradable services in Africa
- Informal sector measurement of openness, collaboration and innovation: the case of Otigba hardware microenterprises cluster in Africa
- Book review: Goetz, A.M., Hassim, S. (eds.) (2003). No shortcuts to power: African women in politics and policy making. Cape Town: Zed Books. 246 p. ISBN 1842771477
- Historical and contemporary dimensions of migration between South Africa and its neighbouring countries
- Where have the poor been going in South Africa?: key migration streams and their implications from rural and urban viewpoints
- The importance and implications of historical factors causing and inhibiting past migration in South Africa