Can Migratory Contacts and Remittances Contribute to Reconciliation and Reconstruction in Rwanda?

Abstract

Migratory contacts may have a positive or a negative influence on local processes of reconciliation and reconstruction. However, their impact on individual attitudinal and behavioural attributes remains a largely underexposed topic. Migrants from post‐conflict Rwanda maintain substantive contacts with their relatives through social networks and the resources that they send. Reconstruction and reconciliation programmes in post‐conflict Rwanda heavily rely on these migratory contacts. We explore the relationship between migration, reconstruction and reconciliation processes in post‐conflict Rwanda. We analyse the importance of migratory contacts as a major constituent of social capital, and discuss whether and how remittances can be used for mobilizing this social capital. Adopting a micro‐level perspective, we examine the effects of migratory contacts and remittances on cooperative behaviour and willingness for reconciliation amongst 558 households in Huye District, southern Rwanda. We find that migratory contacts enhance reconstructive behaviour and reconciliatory attitudes, whereas financial remittances result in reduced participation in these processes, indicating that there is a crowding‐out effect due to remittance‐dependency. Furthermore, we scrutinize the relationship between reconciliation and reconstruction, showing that inter‐group contact is a key mediating variable.

Social Capital and Household Welfare Among Anioma People in Delta State, Nigeria.

“…Organisational social capital significantly influence the rural households' access to and amount of credit facilities available from different sources (Balogun, Yusuf, Omonona & Okoruwa, 2011), and Caarl, Fransen & Ruben's (2013) study confirmed the positive impact on welfare, of remittances on beneficiary households, particularly in urban areas. Remittances are a type of extra income, which flowed through informal channels -hand deliveries and couriering within family networks based on trust and solidarity (Fransen, 2015).…”

The Rwandan diaspora in Canada and the United States: reconciliation and justice

“…They found that within the Diaspora Dialogue project in Portland, Oregon, diaspora members felt strong about their ability to influences circumstances within their home countries. Additionally, Caarls, Fransen, and Ruben (2012) collected survey data from 568 households within the Huye District of Rwanda to determine how the family relationships between those living inside and outside of country impacted their beliefs about reconciliation. The authors found that continued relationships with family outside of Rwanda contributed to participants in reconciliatory actives and attitudes.…”

Are Migrants More Extreme Than Locals After War? Evidence From a Simultaneous Survey of Migrants in Sweden and Locals in Bosnia

“…However, within this literature, it is also acknowledged that most refugee crises do not result in refugee militarization (Adelman 1998; Salehyan and Gleditsch 2006, 361; Stedman and Tanner 2003) and that diasporas also engage in peaceful politics (Lyons 2007; Salehyan 2009, 34). At the same time, new research has begun to document the peace-promoting impact of migrants in various phases of armed conflict and conflict resolution (Brinkerhoff 2006; Caarls, Fransen, and Ruben 2013; Cochrane 2007; Cochrane, Baser, and Swain 2009; Horst 2008; Orjuela 2008; Smith and Stares 2007). Nevertheless, civil war research still largely conceives of migrants in terms of the risks they pose, a view reflected in recent reviews of the literature (Blattman and Miguel 2010, 29-30; Fearon 2010, 41; Golan and Gal 2009, 127; Hoeffler 2012, 23).…”