Exodus by Choice: Voluntariness in Ethnic Migration Sagas

What is it about?

Is migration voluntary when people plan their departure under threat? I examine a 1989 case where two villages - one Azerbaijani, one Armenian - arranged to swap places during ethnic tensions in the Soviet Union. While the villagers carefully planned and negotiated their migration, they did so because they felt unsafe staying in their homes. By studying this case, I show why it's misleading to call a migration "voluntary" simply because people actively organized their departure. Instead, what matters is whether people were motivated to migrate due to their belief that they lacked any acceptable option at home. This distinction between “voluntary” and “forced” migration is crucial because it affects how we treat migrants and what rights they should have. Thus, it helps protect vulnerable communities by preventing others from wrongly claiming that forced displacements were voluntary choices.

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