The new refugee crisis in Europe: the repulsion-attraction model revisited and the challenges for migration policies

Abstract >This paper addresses the challenges resulting from the new refugee flows directed to Europe since the beginning of the second decade of the 21st century. Aiming to explain the new refugee crisis, the push-pull model is revisited and the role of agency – individual motives that induce migration – is confronted with interference from the structure – economic, social and political factors that explain the increase of flows, also attending to the dynamics and operation of the legal framework in the European context. Despite the scarce empirical evidence, we conclude that the new refugee movements pose profound challenges to observational and theoretical analyses, as well as to the existing legal framework. Further studies and new regulatory instruments are needed in order to respond to the size and complexity of such flows.