Migration flows, affecting the European continent with growing intensity over the past years, have undoubtedly provoked a range of controversies and political, security and media debates. In this book however the authors provide measured and consistent appraisals of current migratory movements, aiming at explicating their causes and consequences as clearly as possible so that the gaps between political responses, public concerns and knowledge of migrations could be bridged. The book provides a methodologically and empirically comprehensive insight into the background to current migrations, beginning with geopolitical tensions, to socio-economic migration push factors, to political responses and a detailed probe into the experience of migrants themselves.