Concluding Remarks

Although modern technology enables movement of the people on a scale never seen before, mobility is not a new phenomenon. People have always moved from one place to another. Lately, there has been a growing scholarly interest in migration in history and social sciences. We can talk about a mobility turn, which has given rise to a broader and more inclusive idea of mobility based on the understanding that mobility penetrates every aspect of human life and society. Our volume contributes to this scholarship with a focus on how mobility has been managed by the authorities, and how mobile people have responded to this. Migration has always been contested and controlled, and its control is always inextricably linked with power relations. On the other hand, migration also represents an important form of agency for people on the move. Mobility and its control are topical issues in the current world, as more people are on the move than ever before. Since the so-called refugee crisis, which would better be described as a humanitarian crisis of refugees, in 2015, controlling migration has been at the top of the European political agenda, but borders have never and probably never will stop people completely. The chapters of this volume show that challenges in managing migration are not a new phenomenon. Together, they bring a historical perspective to the discussion and thus help us understand this phenomenon more comprehensively.