TY - JOUR TI - In Search of Economic Security and Societal Security. The Experience of Economic Migrants from Transnistria and Gagauzia AU - Herța, Laura M. AU - Șerpi, Mihaela TI - In Search of Economic Security and Societal Security. The Experience of Economic Migrants from Transnistria and Gagauzia AB - The main goal in this article is to explore the causes and nature of economic migration from the Republic of Moldova. The conceptual and analytical frame­work is based on the widening and deepening of meanings of security, as part of the transition from traditional, Cold War, state-centric understanding of security to the multisectorial approaches of security. Two relevant sectors of security are selected in this study, namely economic security and societal security, because they provide in-depth understanding of economic migration from Gagauzia and Transnistria. The methodology is based on interviews taken with migrant work­ers from the two regions and on interpretation and analysis of research findings. Before discussing the findings, we documented migration experiences of migrant workers who belong to different ethnic groups, tracing their pre-migration situ­ations and post-migration life. Also, we documented how their economic aspira­tions and ethnic identity shaped their migration intentions and perceptions of different countries of destination. VL - 2022 IS - Volume 16 PY - 2022 SN - 2082-7695 C1 - 2720-0825 SP - 181 EP - 201 DO - 10.4467/20827695WSC.22.013.16762 UR - https://ejournals.eu/en/journal/wschodnioznawstwo/article/in-search-of-economic-security-and-societal-security-the-experience-of-economic-migrants-from-transnistria-and-gagauzia KW - economic migration KW - Gagauzia KW - Transnistria KW - economic security KW - societal security