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Multilevel Governance and Livelihood Strategies of Migrants

Over the last one and a half decade, major changes in global economic governances have altered the rules that determine economic environment. The WTO Agreement, the economic transition of formerly socialist Central and East European countries, the Eastern enlargement of the EU, and the emergence of the new "global players" have contributed to intensified international movement of capital and goods, thus enhancing "globalization" and world-wide competition. This has lead to dramatic changes in the global economic, political and social conditions.

Millions of people in poorer countries, and in particular those in rural areas, have adapted to these breaks by new or modified migration-cum-remittance strategies in order to secure their livelihood. In general, these strategies are not only pursued to improve the material living conditions of the migrants himself, but are part of longer term family / household strategies for the purpose of sustainable livelihood security of a larger group.

In addition, via the inflow and spending of remittances, and the outflow and backflow of human resources, these strategies have significant impacts on other members of their community and, in a large number of countries, on the overall economic development. In spite of the large inflow of remittances to poorer households, and the fact that these remittances constitute the major (and for some countries almost the only) source of foreign exchange, country-case studies show mixed results with respect to the question of how far these strategies really contribute to the long-term livelihood security of poorer families. It turns out that this is decisively determined by lower-level governance regimes, reaching from the national to the local level.

The parallel session will a) provide theoretical and empirical overviews over the interactions between global and multi-level governance, international labour migration, remittance flows, and livelihood security of migrants' and non-migrants' households; b) present empirically founded case studies from Southern and Eastern Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America.

Speakers:

Narayanan Nair Krishnan
Director
Centre for Development Studies
Thiruvananthapuram
India

Vesselin Mintchev
Institute of Economics
Bulgarian Academy of Sciences
Sofia
Bulgaria

Massimiliano Cali
Overseas Development Institute (ODI)
London
United Kingdom

Rasha Moh'd Said Amin Istaiteyeh
Department of Development Economics, Migration and Agricultural Policy
University of Kassel
Germany

Germán A. Zárate-Hoyos
Economics Department
University of New York College
Suny Cortland
United States

Organizer:

EADI Working Group on International Migration