Spatial Mobility Under Crisis: Policy Responses and Migration Dynamics in Five Countries

The authors examine how public health crises have reshaped migration governance and spatial mobility. Focusing on the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, China, Brazil, and Ghana, the study analyzes policy responses and their implications for migration dynamics. The findings suggest that national responses were shaped by factors such as epidemic trajectories, economic conditions, healthcare systems, political structures, and patterns of urbanization and demographics. These policy choices reconfigured spatial mobility by constraining transnational and internal movements in uneven ways. The study offers insights into the complex relationship between crisis-driven mobility control and migration governance, highlighting the long-term implications of pandemic responses for vulnerable populations in diverse and interconnected societies.