Dissertations and Theses @ UNI
Availability
Open Access Thesis
Keywords
Russia (Federation)--Emigration and immigration; United States--Emigration and immigration; Russia (Federation); United States; Brain drain--Russia (Federation); Brain drain; Emigration and immigration; Academic theses;
Abstract
The last decade of the 20th century was marked by an important event on the European political map, the USSR's disintegration and the formation of new states. The collapse of the Soviet Union and consequent changes in the economic and social lives of its former population caused an increase in migration between former republics, and migration flow abroad. Regarding the Russian Federation, international emigration from its territory was directed mostly toward three countries: Germany, Israel and the USA. The period 1990-1991 can be called the starting point of a new wave of Russian emigration, and this is true in relation to emigration to the USA. Perestroika and economic restructuring in Russia served as push factors for mass emigration from the territory of Russia. However, this research is focused on pull factors related to attractive sites of the destination area, the USA. The relative recentness of this wave of emigration explains the lack of research on this issue. The majority of previous studies were conducted by Russian scholars, mostly with the use of Russian statistical sources. Many authors in their findings pointed out that the new wave can be characterized as brain drain from Russia. This study aims to analyze the dynamics and structural changes of migration from Russia to the USA during the study period, 1990-2003, estimate the scale of different components of migration, analyze the spatial pattern of the new wave, and explore the role of proposed pull factors. Correlation analysis and regression modeling, along with GIS functionalities, were used as primary analytical techniques. The data used in the study were obtained from American statistical sources, US CIS and the Bureau of the Census, since they provide broad information on immigration ( compared to the Russian source, Goskomstat) and its determinants. The results showed that during the study period immigration from Russia to the USA underwent significant changes. The structure of permanent and temporary migration inflow changed from the prevalence of refugees toward the intellectualization of immigration. The spatial pattern of immigration had changed too, toward an expanded and increasingly varied settlement geography, largely due to less concentration around the New York area. A similar trend is characteristic of temporary immigration; the number of Russians arriving through the New York port of entry decreased. The combination of pull factors that determines the distribution of Russian immigration throughout the USA had changed drastically. At the beginning of the new wave, only the distribution of Russian foreign-born population served as a decisive factor. Now, at the modem stage, Russian immigration is also influenced by funds for the research and development performance sector. The foreign-born population will continue to be the major factor, and this is the tendency, as we propose, for the migration of all ethnic groups. Regarding modem temporary Russian immigration, the combination of pull factors is more complicated; along with the distribution of Russian foreign-born population and funds for research and development, another factor plays an equally important role, the percentage of the population employed in the 'professional specialty' occupational group. Data inconsistency limited the analysis of pull factors. Therefore, a future research direction will focus on analysis at a more detailed spatial level. Future research will also focus on naturalization and the ethnic composition of immigration from Russia.
Year of Submission
2005
Degree Name
Master of Arts
Department
Department of Geography
First Advisor
Tim R. Strauss
Second Advisor
James F. Fryman
Third Advisor
Ramanathan Sugumaran
Date Original
2005
Object Description
1 PDF file (180 leaves)
Copyright
©2005 Alexandra Mikhailovna Bozheva
Language
en
File Format
application/pdf
Recommended Citation
Bozheva, Alexandra Mikhailovna, "Russian Immigration to the USA, 1990-2003" (2005). Dissertations and Theses @ UNI. 2163.
https://scholarworks.uni.edu/etd/2163
Comments
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