Critical approaches to transit migration

This article introduces the subject of this special issue and presents the papers that follow. It traces the origins of the label `transit migration to discussions of what was called the `new migration in the early 1990s. These migrations related to the particular geopolitical context at the end of the Cold War. Though they established the pre-emptive rationale whereby concern is focused as much on potential migration as on actual movement, there have been four substantial changes since then. As the geopolitical context has changed, so has the geographies of migration, with a general shift of attention from east-west to south-north; the technological supports of migration have improved, allowing migrants easier, cheaper access to different routes; the categories of migrant have proliferated and finally similar movements may be observed all over the world though only those in the vicinity of Europe are labelled as `transit. This leads us to a critical stance around the term `transit that is common to all papers in this special issue. Nevertheless, despite the problematic term, there is something worthy of attention amongst these new developments around the fringes of Europe. Copyright 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd