Confini e nuovi conflitti: i dilemmi delle migrazioni nell’Europa centro-orientale

Borders and New Conflicts: The Dilemmas of Migration from Eastern Europe The scope of this article is to elaborate on a topical issue that is the contemporary migration from Eastern Europe whose origin dates back to the end of the Cold War, but whose intensity has shown significantly again following the recent conflict between Russia and Ukraine. Primary and secondary sources collected over the last twenty years are the research material to which reference will be made in the exposition. The writing is divided into a historical and a contemporary part. The starting point is an analysis of the migration system of Central-Eastern Europe and its origins. After this historical excursus, there follows a brief description of two more recent case studies. The first is the conflict which took place in Autumn 2021on Middle-Eastern and African migrants transferred at the border between Poland and Belarus. The second case study covers the analysis of the causes and contradictions in the management of the large flows of refugees and displaced persons generated by the still ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine which broke out at the end of February 2022. The current dilemmas of the evolving Central-Eastern European migration system characterized by changing labour markets, border closures and temporary humanitarian protection are briefly depicted at the end.