International Migration Institute

Rainer Baubock explores the citizenship puzzle - citizenship status and its relevance in contemporary democracies In contemporary democracies, the franchise in national elections has been largely separated from territorial residence by extending it to voters residing permanently abroad, but not from citizenship status, which remains a fundamental requirement in all but a few countries, with New Zealand as the most significant exception that confirms the rule. Conversely, the local franchise has been separated from national citizenship requirements in a significant number of (mostly European) states but remains – with only few exceptions – reserved for those who reside in the municipality. These observations can be condensed into a testable hypothesis: The national franchise is separable from territorial residence but not from national citizenship; the local franchise is separable from national citizenship but not from territorial residence. Stated differently, voting rights are increasingly differentiated acc

This paper investigates why Afghans in the wider diaspora take action in certain ways. This paper investigates why Afghans in the wider diaspora take action in certain ways. It builds on the analysis of transnational activities and different ‘spheres of engagement’ (Van Hear 2015). With the help of qualitative data obtained through in-depth interviews and participant observation I first explain how informants come to direct their activities towards certain spheres of engagement and how these engagements implicate ideas of change. In a further step I use my findings to discuss the notion of diasporas as agents of change. I show how relational sociology helps to specify the structuring effects of the social context of my informants. In particular, I identify enabling and constraining structures and explore how informants exercise agency and creatively use available resources by taking action in one or several spheres of engagement. The relational approach disentangles the effects and variabilities of multi-laye

An ethnographic border regime analysis showing that the governing of migration remains an attempt to control rather than effecting a total control of movement, and that marriage becomes an important strategy for migrants' mobility According to article 16 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 'men and women of full age, without limitation due to race, nationality or religion, have the right to marry and to found a family'. This should entail that citizens from so-called 'third countries' married to a citizen of an EU member state also have the right to enter the Schengen area in order to join their partner, regardless of their social background and resources. However, states intend to regulate migration and during the last decade 'marriage migration' has become a specific target of control. One can observe an increasing problematisation and politicisation of 'marriage migration' – especially from Muslim countries – which led to more restrictive policies towards this group of migrants, for example throu

Ali Chaudhary and Marieke van Houte introduce the seminar series on migration, politics and political change and their TRANSMIC project, examining the links between migration, citizenship, and migration and development This presentation is part of the 2016 IMI Hilary Term seminar series, which seeks to interrogate the relationship between migration, politics and political change. The series offers a wide range of (inter)disciplinary, methodological and theoretical approaches to the study of the processes and outcomes that link migration, emigrants and immigrants with politics and political change. The series seeks to discuss both how political actors govern migrants’ actions and movements ‘from above’, through policies and resources, and how migrants may shape politics ‘from below’, and can be grassroots ‘agents of change’. Key themes highlighted in this collection of seminars include research on diasporas, transnational engagement, im/migrant politics in origin and receiving countries and political change,

Looking at the impact of financial remittances on immigrant relatives’ access to healthcare via community-based health insurances For many years, the migration and development literature has looked at the impact of financial remittances on immigrant relatives’ access to healthcare. More recent work on social remittances also examined the circulation of ideas and practices through migration and its impact on behaviour and consumption patterns in the home country. Surprisingly, however, migration scholars have neglected the interactions between remittances and local health systems in countries of origin. This is all the more surprising considering the abundant literature on health and development that has documented numerous non-governmental initiatives to improve access to care in the Global South in recent years. Among those initiatives, community-based health insurances (CBHI) have attracted significant attention. CBHI are voluntary risk-pooling schemes run by not-for-profit organisations; they collect fees

Case study of hyper-mobile migrants employed on large-scale construction sites in the Netherlands, highlighting the ways these workers express their agency in dealing with a cross-border employment context in which social protection is difficult to access Within the European Union a labour recruitment system exists within which firms use various channels of migration and recruitment to differentiate between terms and conditions of migrant workers, exploiting the blurred boundaries of regulatory frameworks on intra-EU mobility. Though these EU migrant workers are formally not excluded from labour rights, regulations are enacted such that de facto they often are. In particular, migrants who move between EU-member states on a regular basis for work, such as those working in engineering construction, face many irregularities in their employment relations, while hardly experiencing protection from established representation and enforcement authorities. This presentation discusses a case study of hyper-mobile mig

The main destinations of migrants are the mega cities and other urban areas, yet governments are ill-prepared to receive this large influx of people and internal migrants are exposed to a new set of risks and vulnerabilities. Internal migration is increasingly rural-urban. The main destinations of migrants are the mega cities and other urban areas, in search of better or more diversified livelihoods, better access to services, or just a better life. Yet governments are ill-prepared to receive this large influx of people and unwilling to penalise employers who disregard labour laws and, as such, internal migrants to urban areas are exposed to a new set of risks and vulnerabilities. These risks include poor working conditions – such as long hours, low pay and an unsafe working environment – exploitation by recruiters, employers and middlemen, low-quality and uncertain housing, lack of sanitation and safe water, irregular or no access to utility services and generally poor access to basic and social protection s

IMI Visiting Fellow Nauja Kleist presents her research on return migration in the context of restrictive mobility regimes in Europe and Africa, within theories on hope, (im)mobility, social fields, gender, and belonging. Contemporary migration is characterized by a mobility paradox. The increased reach and accessibility of communication, media and transport technologies mean that people in many parts of the world are exposed to visions of the good life elsewhere while restrictive mobility regimes makes access to the global circuits of legal mobility increasingly difficult. In this paper Nauja argues that hope constitutes a productive analytical framework for studies of migration in the light of this mobility paradox, highlighting potentiality as well as uncertainty. She explores this through a case study of life after deportation to Ghana with a focus on conflicting notions of hope. Returning empty-handed is widely embedded in shame and a sense of individualized failure, despite widespread knowledge of the

Would a narrower gap in social services provision help to manage migration from developing countries? Income gap is widely accepted to be the single-most compelling factor that determines migration from developing to developed countries. It is driven by the income maximisation motive. Hence, conventional wisdom holds that economic development in developing countries should lead to lower migration. Interestingly, data also show that there is a considerable 'welfare state' gap between developing and developed countries. Using the argument of risk minimisation motive, would a narrower gap in social services provision help to manage migration from developing countries? This research provides empirical macro and micro evidence of the 'reverse welfare magnet' and the complexity on the effect of social policy on migration. It is argued that better welfare provision in developing countries could reduce migration through the risk minimisation channel.

Examining how social protection is conceptualised in research in African contexts and reviewing the extent to which these different approaches can take into account the changing populations of urban spaces, especially those experiencing high migration Over the last two decades, the concept of social protection has been widely applied to understand how poor societies reduce the multiple socio-economic risks faced by their members. Social protection is concerned with both social welfare or assistance and also social insurance that reduces risk for those most vulnerable to poverty and exploitation. It has been incorporated into a number of aid programmes in sub-Saharan Africa but the reach of formal social protection provided by the state remains extremely limited and informal social protection mechanisms often provide the majority of support that the population experiences. In Africa’s rapidly growing urban centres, the systems of social protection must be flexible in the face of the rapidly changing population

Comparing immigrant and native-born social capital formation via New Zealand data which permits a distinction between indicators of stocks of social capital and indicators of investment in the form of participation in community and voluntary activities In this presentation Professor Poot compares immigrant and native-born social capital formation by means of New Zealand data which permits a distinction between indicators of stocks of social capital (viz. feelings of safety, interpersonal contact and inclusion) and indicators of investment in the form of participation in community and voluntary activities, with bonding and bridging activities considered separately. For immigrants, an assessment is made of how social capital formation changes with increasing years in the host country. Additionally, impacts of spatial segregation - both interregional and intra-regional - on social capital formation are identified. The robustness of the results are gauged by replication of the statistical analysis across two diff

What motivates policymakers to initially develop these very specifically-targeted policy proposals which contradict the territorial logic of the welfare state? Transnational mobility presents fundamental challenges to nationally-bounded welfare states, which historically have tended to be organised according to territorial principles of solidarity among permanent residents / nationals. By developing legislation to create welfare benefits encouraging the durable return of specific groups of older migrants to their countries of origin, the Dutch and French governments have taken recent unusual steps to break this link between national solidarity and territorially-bounded consumption of welfare. This presentation asks what motivated policymakers to initially develop these very specifically-targeted policy proposals which contradict the territorial logic of the welfare state. Based on interviews and available official documents, we follow the subsequent 'biographies' of the two policies, explaining why the revi

IMI Trinity term Visiting Fellow Rafael Cazarin gives an exceptional seminar on narratives of social transformation amongst Nigerian and Congolese pastors in diaspora The celebration of conferences, the articulation of visions with spiritual gifts and the teachings on everyday life orientate Pentecostal migrants to develop personal skills, frame interpersonal challenges and ‘tune’ their minds to understand sentiments and emotions. Either in Africa or outside Africa, Pentecostal churches affect congregants though a set of multi-level activities in which transformation is the effect of rules of which obedience must be acknowledged. As part of an ongoing doctoral research carried out in Bilbao, Spain, and, Johannesburg, South Africa this research engages with the current debates on emotions and social transformation exploring their places within church leaders’ narratives within a migratory milieu. Moreover, Cazarin analyses here the modus operandi of Nigerian and Congolese church leaders on articulating cong

What archaeological data tell us about the movement of populations in the last millenia: presented by Nicolas Zorzin

Applying a gender lens to migration and development: insights from research in Southern Africa: presented by Belinda Dodson

Remaining 'attached strangers': Encounters, relationships and the future of African migrants in China, presented by Linessa Dan Lin

MIGRATION AND MODERNIZATION IN POLAND: AN ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL PERSPECTIVE presented by Marcin Galent (Jagiellonian University, Krakow) Migrants from Central and Eastern Europe have become an inseparable part of the British ethnic mosaic. Eastern European migration attracts a lot of scholarly attention in the UK, however little has been said about the origin country perspective in this debate. What has driven these people to leave in the first place? What are the consequences of their decisions? Not only the costs – depopulation of rural areas in certain localities in Eastern Europe – but also the benefits – low unemployment, skill transfers and modernization projects – of this out-migration are occurring on an unprecedented scale. In this special series of podcasts, three speakers aim to bring these arguments to light, thereby filling the substantial gap in how emigration from Central Eastern Europe has been conceptualised thus far. WELFARE SYSTEMS AS EMIGRATION FACTOR: EVIDENCE FROM THE NEW ACCES

Mobile female traders from Mali in Dakar (Senegal): Place-making abroad and on the move, presented by Gunvor Jonsson

'Sub-Saharan mobility and the transformation of the urban religious landscape in Morocco', presented by Johara Berriane

Malasree Neepa Acharya presents her paper '‘Brain-gain' return of India’s high-skilled entrepreneurs: Home, transformation, and power politics in the cosmopolitan global south' in Parallel session V(D) of the conference Examining Migration Dynamics This paper investigates the impact of entrepreneurs of Indian origin as social and economic actors that are choosing to return to emerging cities in India. I ask how do entrepreneurs of Indian origin who have lived for a substantial time in the US and/or EU construct their lives upon returning to cosmopolitan cities in India and what factors affect their actions. Entrepreneurs, self-employed owners, financers and managers of their own business or enterprise, are a specific subset of high skilled migrants who take charge of their destinies. I theorize that entrepreneurs— as a unique action-oriented subset of returning elites (Heberer 1999, Drucker 1975)—create their work and home space as a reflection of their hybrid subjectivities and life experiences as cosmopoli