ABSTRACT
Migration and political change has either been largely side-lined, or assumed to be about the forces generating conflict and refugee flows. While increasing interest in the political participation of migrants and on the impact of migrants on the diffusion of political ideas is emerging, systematic attempts to examine changing patterns of migration and political regimes have been lacking, although for a partial exception see J. W. Moses. Declining migration appears likely to be accompanied by increasing mobility as individuals base themselves in one area but travel further, faster, and for shorter periods in order to engage in work or for recreational travel. Tourists are not migrants but they both facilitate migration, by providing a regular channel of entry, and cause migration by generating employment and by forcing local populations to leave particular hot spots. Technological development and the emergence of electric aircraft could sustain what is the largest and fastest-growing population flow in the world at present: international tourists.
