The role of corruption in reintegration: experiences of Iraqi Kurds upon return from Europe

Abstract

This article examines how corruption affects reintegration. The literature on return and reintegration shows that return migrants often struggle to adjust and adapt to life in their place of origin because that environment can be very different from what they grew accustomed to abroad. One stark difference is the prevalence and meaning of corruption. In many sending countries that migrants come from and then return to, corruption is endemic. By contrast, in many receiving countries that migrants go to and return from, it is incidental. Yet, we know little about how the discrepancy affects reintegration. This study examines how corruption affects the psychosocial and economic reintegration of Iraqi Kurds returning to Iraqi Kurdistan from Norway and the United Kingdom. Interviews with returnees reveal that they consider corruption a major challenge for their own reintegration. Psychosocially, it alienates them from the ideology of the Kurdish nation-building project, challenges their identities, undermines a sense of belonging and creates insecurity. Economically, it shapes economic behaviour and outcomes by obstructing entrepreneurship, producing relative deprivation and conditioning their employability. ARTICLE HISTORY

Return Migrants’ Experience of Access to Care in Corrupt Healthcare Systems: The Bosnian Example

“…Similarly, Paasche’s study of Iraqi returnees found that they had adapted to a less corrupt society abroad and that the corruption in the home country therefore made them feel a sense of alienation from their home country. Paasche describes how the returnees considered corruption a major challenge to their own reintegration both psychosocially, by creating a feeling of insecurity and hindering the development of a sense of belonging in their home country, and economically, by obstructing entrepreneurship and producing relative deprivation [ 41 ]. Corruption has thus been shown to create complications for return migrants other than the Bosnians in this study.…”

“…A similar situation has been described by Paasche, who studied the return of Iraqi refugees. Paasche reports that Iraqi refugees who had returned from Norway and the United Kingdom were more frequently asked for bribes than was the case for those who had never fled from Iraq, and they were also asked for larger bribes than individuals who had not been refugees abroad [ 41 ].…”

Diasporic homecomings to the Kurdistan region of Iraq: Pre- and post-return experiences shaping motivations to re-return

“…Several empirical studies point towards returnees' negative experiences with corruption and local power relations, feelings of frustration and disappointment in the homeland context (Emanuelsson, 2008). This is also the case with Iraqi Kurdish return migration, as shown by Emanuelsson (2008) and more recently by Paasche (2016aPaasche ( , 2016b. For instance, Paasche (2016b: 129) has found that, in many returnee narratives, KRG's ruling elites appeared as above the rule of law and ruling the region through neo-patrimonial patronage.…”

Towards a definition for returnees' reintegration processes in the context of rural Ethiopia

“…Table 1 shows that reintegration is mainly measured through economic ( n = 26) and social ( n = 16) dimensions. To a lesser extent, psycho‐social (measured through returnees' psycho‐social well‐being and feelings of self‐worth) and political dimensions (measured using returnees' perceptions of safety, trust in the government and access to justice and citizenship rights) are also mentioned (Cherti et al ., 2013; Brisbois et al ., 2016; Mercier et al ., 2016; Paasche, 2016; Flahaux, 2017).…”