INFORMATION AND REFUGEE MIGRATION - THE CASE OF MOZAMBICANS IN MALAWI

Despite increasing: prominence in international population movements, refugee migration is a poorly understood social and spatial process. C ommon assumptions about refugee migration have rarely been empirically tested. This article focuses attention on the migration decision-maki ng: process of refugees. Its conceptual basis is that the decision mak ing: of refugees can be critically compared with that of other migrant s. An analytical framework is suggested which focuses on the receipt a nd evaluation of information about prospective destinations in the dec ision-making process. It is tested in the context of Mozambican refuge es in Malawi in 1992 and 1993. Analysis shows that this framework achi eves a qualified success in explaining the patterns and processes of m igration of the study population, and suggests broader applications fo r the framework.