Central European University MA Thesis Taming Emigration
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Central European University Nationalism Studies Program MA Thesis Taming Emigration: Bulgaria and Other Selected Cases By Vassil Nikolov Supervisor: Florian Bieber June 2005 TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION 1 STRUCTURE OF RESEARCH 4 ROOTS OF MIGRATION 7 Pull Factors....................................................................................................................................................... 7 Push Factors..................................................................................................................................................... 8 Networks........................................................................................................................................................... 9 The Migration Hump..................................................................................................................................... 11 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................................................... 12 QUALITATIVE ASSESMENT OF MIGRATION 13 Remedy to Unemployment?.......................................................................................................................... 14 Social Costs..................................................................................................................................................... 15 Remittances .................................................................................................................................................... 15 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................................................... 18 EMIGRATION POLICIES IN PRACTICE 19 Mexico............................................................................................................................................................. 19 Turkey............................................................................................................................................................. 23 The Philippines............................................................................................................................................... 26 Cyprus............................................................................................................................................................. 28 Other examples .............................................................................................................................................. 30 Conclusions..................................................................................................................................................... 30 BULGARIA 34 Definition of ‘Emigrant’................................................................................................................................34 Emigration prior to 1989............................................................................................................................... 35 Post 1989 Emigration..................................................................................................................................... 37 Socio-Economic Impact................................................................................................................................. 38 Policy Measures and Recommendations...................................................................................................... 40 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................................................... 43 MIGRATION AND THE NATION-STATE: 46 CONCLUDING REMARKS 46 BIBLIOGRAPHY 50 Vassil Nikolov | MA Thesis | Nationalism Studies Program | June 2005 TAMING EMIGRATION: BULGARIA AND OTHER SELECTED CASES INTRODUCTION If there is one thing that distinguishes our modern world today from the one shared by previous generations, it is the fact that for main-stream society, it has grown much smaller. While similarities and parallels with previous times and ways of doing things can be drawn on numerous levels, one can unmistakably notice the shrinking of space and time, as well as the approximation of culture, that clearly distinguish the social and cultural landscapes of our lives today as compared to those of yesterday. This line of reasoning is in no way new. In fact, prominent scholars such as Ernest Gellner himself have identified the connection between modernity and culture and their special relationship in the form of nations, and their resulting maintaining mechanism – nationalism.1 What I am really trying to emphasize, however, is the sheer magnitude of the phenomenon. Thanks to our technical capabilities we have rendered communication and travel a mere whim of our everyday reality. Just to illustrate, the cost of a three-minute telephone conversation between London and New York has fallen from US$300 to US$1 between 1930 and 1996.2 Not to exaggerate the effect of globalization, the reality of our global political and economic arrangements shows, that the benefits of the information and travel revolutions are in fact available to a relatively small fraction of the world’s population, and in fact the vast majority of all people in the world would die within a few months of the place where they were born. 3 Nevertheless, as Geddes notes, that even when a small fraction the world population gets on the move, it still represents a migration flow in the millions. This increased mobility offers, to those willing to and capable of taking advantage of it, a 1 Ernest Gellner, Nationalism (London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1997). 2 Eva Ostergaard-Nielsen, ed., International Migration and Sending Countries: Perceptions, Policies and Transnational Relations (Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003), 14. 3 Andrew Geddes, Immigration and European Integration: Towards a Fortress Europe? (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2000). 1 Vassil Nikolov | MA Thesis | Nationalism Studies Program | June 2005 TAMING EMIGRATION: BULGARIA AND OTHER SELECTED CASES solution against political insecurity and economic hardship. As a result, migrants often establish large and coherent communities abroad, and continue to maintain ties with their homeland, and depending on the circumstances, either support or undermine political regimes. Naturally, this triggers a process which fundamentally alters the geopolitical understanding of a ‘World divided into nations’. The construction of nation-states, or nation-building as it is often referred in the literature, no longer runs along the praxis of overlapping physical and social boundaries, and as this study will demonstrate, many countries are realizing the benefits of (re)including their citizens living abroad into the economic and political life of their home-states.4 From remittances, to the political support at home and abroad, emigration countries today are confronted by the challenge of formulating policies that help capture the economic and political support, and re-inspire feelings of loyalty among emigrants towards their homeland. Needless to say, such policies cross over national boundaries, thus making nation-states equal actors along with ordinary people, when it comes to transnational activities. Bulgaria is one such instance of a country, which has only recently begun to make efforts in reaching its diaspora. Having experienced strong out-migration in the last fifteen years, the Bulgarian government made the first step towards bridging the gap with its emigrant communities in 1993 by laying the foundations of today’s ‘State Agency for the Bulgarians abroad’. The challenges that lay ahead for this young institution are numerous: from simply keeping track of the number and activities of Bulgarians abroad, to formulating appropriate policies that would hopefully embrace the diaspora into the Bulgarian nation. 4 For the sake of avoiding repetition, will be using interchangeably the terms home-country, country of emigration, country of origin to indicate the country from which the emigrant has originated. Respectively, the terms host-country, country of immigration, country of settlement will be used to denote the new country in which the migrant has settled. 2 Vassil Nikolov | MA Thesis | Nationalism Studies Program | June 2005 TAMING EMIGRATION: BULGARIA AND OTHER SELECTED CASES Given the structural limitations faced by the Agency and the complexity of the research field in general, there have been explicit calls for contributions to the area.5 Therefore, in response to the expressed need for further research, this study will attempt to tackle the challenge of understanding the effects of emigration on the societies and economies of sending countries, and also of evaluating the pragmatic merits emigration policies by presenting a multi-dimensional analysis of migration trends and dynamics, as well as case study investigation of selected countries. Furthermore, I hope to build a wider framework of understanding of migration issues in general, which can provide a blueprint for relevant decision-making. 5 Rossitza Guencheva, Petya Kabakchieva, and Plamen Kolarski, "The Social Impact of Seasonal Migration," in Sharing Experience: Migration Trends in Selected Applicant Countries and Lessons Learned from 'New Countries of Immigration' in the EU and Austria, ed. International Organization for Migration (September 2003): 5. 3 Vassil Nikolov | MA Thesis | Nationalism