Studi Emigrazione – dicembre 1993 – n.112

International migration can be viewed as one more component in an increasingly complex set of exchanges (trade, technology, capitai, culture, sports, etc … ) between countries that possess differential power (economie, military, politica!, technological). This growing interdependence among nations is associated with: expansion of the international economie system; increasing disparities within and between countries; improved cornmunication and trans­portation systems that permit information, people and goods to flow rapidly even between distant territories; transnational institutions, like the United Nations and associated agencies; churches and religious organizations and a variety of smaller socia! service agencies and institutions that employ and transfer employees across nation states; and socia! networks created through intermarriage and socia! mobility patterns that link families and different groupings together in worldwide support systems.