Dissertation

DISSERTATION Titel der Dissertation “Post-Remittances? On Transnational Ties and Migration Between the Kurdistan Region in Iraq and Sweden” Verfasserin Mag. Lisa Pelling angestrebter akademischer Grad Doktorin der Philosophie (Dr. phil.) Wien, März 2013 Studienkennzahl lt. Studienblatt: A 092 300 Dissertationsgebiet lt. Studienblatt: Politikwissenschaft Betreuerin / Betreuer: Univ. Prof. Dr. Hans-Georg Heinrich Abstract This dissertation studies the transnational ties between the Kurdistan Region in Iraq and Sweden with a particular focus on how these ties affect migration. Further, it analyses how the transnational ties between Kurds in Sweden and their relatives in the Kurdistan Region in Iraq have evolved during the past three decades. During this time, the Kurdistan region has moved from an extremely difficult situation with high levels of violence, close to economic collapse and grim outlooks, to a situation characterised by a booming economy, high levels of security, and optimism about the future. The dissertation looks at the importance of transnational practices for the creation, the direction and the perpetuation of migration with empiric evidence from the migration corridor between Iraq and Sweden and through a case study of the transnational ties forged between Kurdish immigrants in Uppsala and their families and relatives in the Kurdistan Region in Iraq. Support is found for a network effect on migration from Iraq to Sweden. The existence of a Kurdish population in Sweden and their transnational ties are indeed important in explaining asylum migration from Iraq to Sweden. Evidence is also presented that the social networks created by former asylum seekers influence more recent labour immigration from Iraq to Sweden. Moreover, it is concluded that transnational practices, including the sending of remittances, will continue to be carried out for many years to come, and the resulting transnational ties will facilitate and encourage migration between the Kurdistan Region in Iraq and Sweden in the future. i Abstract (in German) Die vorliegende Dissertation untersucht die transnationalen Beziehungen zwischen der Region Kurdistan im Irak und Schweden. Einem besonderer Fokus wird auf den aus diesen Beziehungen resultierendem Einfluss auf Migrationsbewegungen zwischen dem Irak und Schweden gelegt. Darüber hinaus wird analysiert, wie sich die transnationalen Beziehungen zwischen Kurden in Schweden und deren Angehörigen in der Region Kurdistan im Irak in den letzten drei Jahrzehnten verändert haben. Die Region Kurdistan im Irak hat sich in dieser Zeit aus einer extrem schwierigen Lage mit einem hohen Maß an Gewalt, einem wirtschaftlichen Kollaps und traurigen Zukunftsperspektiven befreit, und hat sich zu einer Region mit boomender Wirtschaft, hoher Sicherheit und allgemeinem Optimismus über die Zukunft entwickelt. Die Dissertation befasst sich mit der Bedeutung der transnationalen Praktiken für das Zustandekommen, die Zielrichtung und die Fortdauer der Migration unter Verwendung empirischer Daten aus dem Migrationskorridor zwischen dem Irak und Schweden. Diese Daten werden ergänzt durch einer Fallstudie der transnationalen Beziehungen zwischen kurdischen Immigranten in Uppsala und ihren in der Region Kurdistan im Irak verbliebenen Familien und Verwandten. Die Studie bestätigt Einflüsse der sozialen Netzwerke auf die Migration aus dem Irak nach Schweden. Die Existenz einer kurdischen Bevölkerung in Schweden und deren transnationale Beziehungen sind in der Tat ausschlaggebend für die Asylmigration aus dem Irak nach Schweden. Es gibt weiters auch deutliche Anzeichen dafür, dass die sozialen Netzwerke von ehemaligen Asylbewerbern für die Zuwanderung von Arbeitskräften aus dem Irak nach Schweden von besonderer Relevanz sind. Darüber hinaus wird der Schluss gezogen, dass diese transnationalen Praktiken, einschließlich der Transfer von Remittances von Schweden nach Kurdistan, noch für längere Zeit fortgeführt werden wird. Die daraus resultierenden länderübergreifenden Beziehungen zwischen der Region Kurdistan im Irak und Schweden werden auch in Zukunft die Migration weiter erleichtern und fördern. ii Thanks I would like to start by thanking Jan O Karlsson, who by recruiting me as his political advisor in 2002 introduced me to the fascinating world of migration issues. Through the years, you have stubbornly held on to an exaggerated assessment of my capacity, and I am fortunate to have you as my mentor. Thank you also for introducing me to Professor Susan Martin at Georgetown University who has functioned as an indispensable second supervisor, and who welcomed me to spend an inspiring time as a visiting scholar at the Institute for the Study of International Migration. Thanks to my parents, to Henke, Bitten and Sven-Erik who travelled with me to Washington D.C. and made sure I could focus on my thesis while my two then two-and-a-half year old girls had a great time in on the play grounds of Georgetown. (And thanks for all other countless occasions you have helped me). Thanks Adrienne Sörbom, who happened to be in D.C. at the same time with her twin girls, and who has helped me enormously by showing me how my incoherent thoughts on migration theory could be made into something that resembles a scientific argument. I am grateful to all the Kurds who have enriched my life since I started working on this dissertation. I would like to thank all my survey respondents and informants for generously sharing their time, their knowledge and thoughts. Thank you Shoresh Rahem and Ranj Mohammed for being such great guides. Thanks to Ann-Catrine Emanuelsson and Bahar Baser for reviewing what I have written about the history and politics of Kurdistan. Any remaining misunderstandings or misinterpretations are entirely my responsibility. Thanks to Welat Zeydanlioglu and other Kurdistan scholars who have contributed with their expertise and knowledge, not least at the conference Kurdish Migration and Diaspora held at the University of Uppsala on April 12–13, 2012. Thanks to Amanda Klekowski von Koppenfels for your helpful Methods Workshop on Migration in 2009, and to the other PhD wannabies at that workshop who could confirm that Dr Klekowski was right in that the longest phase of any dissertation project is the Stage of Confusion and Distress. Maria Gunther-Axelsson was one of the baby-sitters I needed to attend the workshop. Maria later gave me helpful insights into the world of statistics, despite insisting that the kind of statistics she is familiar with as a nuclear physicist do not have much to do with the kind of methods I could use on my rather limited samples. I would like to thank my fellow political scientist Annika Kropf, who helped me get out of some of my worst moments of confusion and distress. With your clarity of mind and logical thinking, you have helped sort my thoughts from the introduction to the summary, all while finishing your own iii PhD-thesis. You also put me in touch with Peter Michelson, to whom I am grateful for proof- reading an earlier version of this dissertation. Any remaining errors and awkward "Swenglish" expressions are my own. Alexandra Miltner has also been a linguistic support, but has above all extended my productive hours enormously by picking up my oldest son from school several times a week. Thanks also to your mother and mother-in-law for their support! Thank you Barbara Götsch for introducing me to Alex, and into to the process of doing a PhD at the University of Vienna. You've been there all along. Thank you Professor Heinrich at the Institute for Political Science at the University of Vienna for agreeing to be my supervisor. I am grateful to Professor Bo Malmberg and Charlotta Hedberg at the Department of Human Geography of Stockholm University with whom I processed some of the data I use for this thesis. I would like to thank the University of Vienna for giving me the “Forschungsstipendium 2011”, including a six months’ grant. Most of the time, however, I have had to combine my PhD project with wage labour. I would like to thank the Stockholm based think tank Global Utmaning, my employer since 2009, with its president Kristina Persson and its Head of Office Per Lagerström for putting up with my transnational life style. In particular, I would like to thank my closest colleagues Elin Ewers and Veronica Nordlund. I could not wish for better work mates. Thanks also to the Swedish Ministry of Foreign affairs, who has generously approved two applications for grants to gather and process data on remittances from Sweden. For all the help with picking up from Kindergarten and for always, always being there: my parents-in-law Oma Sabine and late Opa Gerhard. Malte, Alvin, Elin and Lava: You have had no choice but to cope with the absent-minded mother who has fallen on your lot. Thank you anyway. I know I have given your reason to doubt, but you are more important to me than anything else. There are many more people I should thank, but all of them put together do not add up to what Gerin has meant for me and for this dissertation. You have supported me all through this amazing, agonising and exhausting adventure. Your argument for why I should try to become “Frau Doktor” has been as simple as convincing: “because you can”. Thanks to you, Gerin, I could. Vienna, March 2013 iv Table of Contents 1 Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Research Questions 1 and 2...............................................................................................

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