Amanda Klekowski von Koppenfels

Migration and Politics Lead Researcher

Amanda Klekowski von Koppenfels received her AB from Harvard College and her MA and PhD from Georgetown University. She is Reader in Migration and Politics at the University of Kent, Scientific Collaborator at the Université de Liège and Lead Researcher and Consultant at KvK Consulting and Coaching. She has lived in Brussels, Belgium since 2002 and has been researching overseas American issues for nearly 20 years, with many publications on the topic, including her book Migrants or Expatriates? Americans in Europe.

Latest Insights by Amanda Klekowski von Koppenfels

Impact of Social and Political Instability on Emigration Decisions in the Case of the United States

Emigrating, or relocating, for a better life is the most human of behaviors. We have migrated for the better part of 100,000 years – but we know we have borders and nation- states restricting access to people crossing those borders. Visas and passports have been a relatively recent addition to human movement, roughly within the last hundred years. Even so, immigration has always been controlled by nation-states, ever since their inception. Migration is not just about physically picking up and moving.