The complex interconnections of the migration–development nexus: a social perspective

Abstract

The contributions to this Special Issue focus on marginalised and neglected social issues associated with the migration–development nexus. It reports research on specific groups of migrants who have so far been left out of the current debate on the relationship between migration and development. This debate has tended to be dominated by structural and economic concerns. The ultimate aim of the special issue is therefore to unsettle the terms of the discussion by placing migrants and their experiences as knowledge producers (along with a range of other actors) at the centre of the debate. The complex interconnections between migration and development in the so‐called ‘North’ and ‘South’ demand that a notion of development be adopted that goes beyond the dichotomy of ‘developed’ versus ‘less developed’ countries, and that leads to an understanding of development processes that occur simultaneously in different places interconnected by migration. This requires the rethinking of the parameters and paradigms that dominate the revived debate on the relationship between international migration and development. A new vocabulary for describing and analysing these complex interlinkages is required, and the notion of ‘global chains’ is suggested here as a starting point. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

What about Gender in Climate Change? Twelve Feminist Lessons from Development

“…In debates of relevance to climate change such as those on environment-development [60], migration-development [104][105][106] and security and peace-building [107] 'women' who are poor are often addressed as either vulnerable victims or virtuous saviors [108] and sometimes as both victims and saviors [105] (p. 6953). The problem with this portrayal is repeatedly stressed in feminist literature [108] for at least three reasons: it overlooks the relational aspect of gender (where are men?…”

Migration, Development, Gender and the ‘Black Box’ of Remittances: Comparative Findings from Albania and Ecuador

“…Especially over the past decade, the 'virtuous' interpretation of the migration-development cycle has dominated international discourse, including the Global Forum for Migration and Development, the World Bank, UNDP, and the UK's Department for International Development (Piper 2009). The consensus view is that migration can be a 'route out of poverty' for many and a pathway to prosperity for some; therefore, echoing the title of the 2009 UNDP Human Development Report, the barriers to mobility need to be overcome.…”

Gendered Morality and Development Narratives: The Case of Female Labor Migration from Indonesia

“…With these increasing official numbers of transnational migrants and their financial remittances, a distinct field of policy-oriented scholarship and research has been articulated, that of transnational migration and development. This discussion, referred to as the "migration-development nexus", can be summarized in terms of an ongoing debate on whether migration contributes to economic and social development of migrants' countries of origin, or whether migration further contributes to exploitation and under-development of these countries [18,20,40,41].…”

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