Migratory flows to Saudi Arabia

The correlation between the oil industry and immigration towards the country

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15448/2178-5694.2023.1.43456

Keywords:

Saudi Arabia, Petroleum, Migratory fluxes, Migrant workers, Push and Pull Effects

Abstract

This article aims to explore the relationship between migratory flows to Saudi Arabia and the oil economy, on which the country is deeply dependent. For this, this work briefly analyzes arguments of some classical scholars of sociology, such as Malthus and Weber, and of some authors of neoclassical economics – brought by Sasaki and Assis (2000). D.B. Grigg (1977) on the writings of E.G. Ravenstein are covered, as well. Finally, this research makes use of the migratory theories presented by Boswell (2002) which, complementing the previous arguments, are used to analyze official data from the International Organization for Migration, for example. To achieve its objective, the relationship of the State in question with oil exploration and the relationship that these two factors have with the work of migrants is explored, and this logic gets inserted within the selected theoretical framework. Thus, the established hypothesis is corroborated by concluding that, despite the need for more research to be carried out, the relationship between the two research objects is one of logical causality: the high migratory flows to Saudi Arabia occur due to the success of the oil industry in the country.

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Author Biographies

Catharina Seadi Pereira, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre (UFGRS), Porto Alegre, RS, Brasil.

Especialista em Relações Internacionais Contemporâneas pela Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), em Porto Alegre, RS, Brasil; graduada em Relações Internacionais pela Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos (UNISINOS), em São Leopoldo, RS, Brasil. Mestranda em Estudos Estratégicos Internacionais na Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (PPGEEI/ UFRGS), em Porto Alegre, RS, Brasil. Membra do Núcleo de Pesquisa em Relações Internacionais do Mundo Árabe (NUPRIMA/UFRGS).

Thais Honório Horn, Universidade do Porto (UP), Porto, Distrito do Porto, Portugal.

Graduada em Relações Internacionais pela Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos (UNISINOS), em São Leopoldo, RS, Brasil; especialista em Relações Internacionais Contemporâneas e Estratégia pela Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), em Porto Alegre, RS, Brasil. Mestranda em Estudos Africanos e bolsista do programa Erasmus Mundus Master Joint Degree nas Universidade do Porto (UP), em Porto, Portugal; Universität Bayreuth (UBT), em Bayreuth, Alemanha; e Université Bordeaux-Montaigne (UBM), Comuna de Pessac, França.

References

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Published

2023-04-17

How to Cite

Seadi Pereira, C., & Honório Horn, T. (2023). Migratory flows to Saudi Arabia: The correlation between the oil industry and immigration towards the country. Conversas & Controvérsias, 10(1), e43456. https://doi.org/10.15448/2178-5694.2023.1.43456

Issue

Vol. 10 No. 1 (2023): Single Volume

Section

Dossier - Migrations

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