Why People Leave, Stay, Move Again, or Return: A Gainsional Analysis of Global Migration Decisions

This paper applies the analytical framework of The Quyen Doctrine to examine a fundamental yet complex aspect of human mobility: why people leave their home countries and how they decide whether to stay abroad, move to another country, maintain transnational lifestyles, or return home. Traditional migration theories often explain international mobility primarily through economic incentives, labor demand, or political conditions. While these explanations capture important structural factors, they frequently struggle to account for the diverse trajectories migrants follow after leaving their countries of origin. This study approaches migration from a different perspective by applying the concept of Gainsions, which conceptualizes human decision-making as emerging from the interaction among four fundamental Gainsional layers: Biological, Material, Psychological, and Existential Gainsions. Through this framework, migration is interpreted not as a single event but as a dynamic life-cycle process shaped by evolving Gainsional configurations. The paper introduces the concept of Gainsional Migration Paths, illustrating how different post-migration trajectories—such as long-term settlement, return migration, secondary migration, and transnational lifestyles—can emerge as individuals attempt to rebalance their Gainsions across changing life circumstances. By applying the Gainsional framework to migration studies, this research offers a multidimensional perspective that integrates economic, social, psychological, and existential motivations within a single analytical structure. The study suggests that migration decisions are best understood as adaptive responses to shifting Gainsional configurations across the human life course.