ABSTRACT
Since 1989 there have been a number of apparent deviations from traditional migration flows on the territory of the former Soviet Union. As was suggested in Chapter 1, some of these anomalies-such as the temporary decline in net migration in Russia in the later 1980s and early 1990s in comparison to the mid-1980s-may be explained quite satisfactorily by a reduced migratory inclination in times of economic disruption and heavy competition for resources (Mitchneck and Plane 1995). Other trends are not so readily accounted for, however. Below, four characteristics of current migrational activity are examined: the volume and direction of migration; the socio-demographic composition of migration flows; the chaotic nature of migration; and the permanence of migration. On the basis of this, an assessment is made as to whether current phenomena constitute no more than deviations in the old system due to short-term economic crisis or, alternatively, constitute a permanent shift in the migration system of the region as a whole.
