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Immigrants as Actors of Development and Bridges between Cultures. A Comparative Case-Study on Migration Networks in Morocco and Mexico

Ulrike Borchardt

International Studies Association

March 17-21, 1998

Preliminary Remarks

The following considerations are part or a research proposal which is submitted to the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft. The aim of this presentation, therefore, is not the discussion of research results, but the discussion of the inherent idea to change the perspective on the migration issue, away from the "metropolitan" centered view to the "periphery". Especially welcome are hints to find a Mexican NGO that fits similar conditions as mentioned in the case of the Moroccan NGO "Migrations et développement".

Abstract

Considering the growing xenophobia in nearly all countries of the world time has come to attend to theories and concepts that don't foment Huntington's argument on "the clash of civilizations“ but are looking for ways that stress the peaceful and mutually useful living together of different cultures.

The planned research is aimed at the "bridge function“ of migrants. It is centred on finding ways that contribute to a positive image of immigrants. Therefore it will include a comparative study on two successfully managed initiatives that start from the following idea: Migration is not a voluntary and easy decision, but due to unbearable economic/social/political circumstances. Especially when immigrants loose their jobs in the receiving countries, they are thinking about the possibility of return to their home country. Though during the second half of the seventies the French and German governments sponsored the return of immigrants, this policy failed because of the lack of basic infrastructure in the home countries and because the return option was not voluntarily, but rather forced by expulsion. An evaluation of a French-Moroccan NGO

"Migrations et développement“ - shows that there are possibilities for a successful return of migrants if you consider three basic ideas: The migrants must be the actors of the return project. They need technical assistance from the receiving country. Both parts have to construct "bridges“ between the two different cultures, especially through constant exchange programs, aiming at the mutual understanding and benefit for both partners. Up to now I have contacts to the mentioned NGO "Migrations et développement", and I am looking for a similar NGO in the United States/Mexico. Comparing the two different regions could contribute to find new ways of dealing with the migration issue that in the EU as well as in the US is becoming an ever increasing political problem. Short review of relevant literature and the state of research on migration issues Since the beginning of the 1990s many publications have been dealing with the migration issue. The vast majority of these publications in the field of social research is concentrated on reductions of migration by control (Cornelius ea. 1994) and on better integration strategies for immigrants (Leveau/Ruf 1991). In the field of economics one finds most studies dealing with the economic consequences of migration for the sending countries as well as for the receiving countries (Dustmann 1996). There are some studies on the relations of migration and development as well (ea. Russell/Teitelbaum 1992). However, there are only relatively few studies on the relationship between migration and development which do not refer exclusively on the economic-technical issue but stress the intercultural competencies of migrants and therefore do not move on the scene of "great politics". There is also a lack of studies comparing the Mexican development with the Moroccan experience in the field of re-migration.

Mexico

There are millions of studies on Mexican migration to the United States and their consequences for the regions of origin of immigrants (Durand/Massey 1992). This is not surprising as you can identify migration to the United States as a social process as early as the beginning of the 20th century. From the beginning western Mexico was the region that sent most of its people to try to find work in the United States. This migration caused decisive changes in the region of origin, changes that can be analyzed from different perspectives: demographic changes, changes of the social structure, the economic development and culture (Alarcón 1992:303). You find the most varying and contradicting results among these migration-studies. Already the first publications on the effects of migration for the original regions came to quite contradictory results: Whereas Manuel Gamio in his study on "Mexican Immigration to the United States“ from 1930 warned of the peril of depopulation for Mexico in the case of a constant migration to the United States, he favored timely limited migration that could serve as an opportunity to receive income in times of recession, qualify the workers and provide Mexico with significant foreign exchange. Other authors stress that the losses resulting from migration are exceeding the benefits, especially in the agricultural production (Bustamante 1979).

More recent studies, such as Alarcón 1992, show that you cannot limit the effects of international migration to the economic field. On the one hand there is no doubt that the biggest part of remittances is used on current consumption by the immigrant's families and for the improvement of their houses. Therefore you cannot distinguish a productive investment of the remittances. On the other hand, what is often overlooked is the long-term effect of migration on the local economy and social structure. Choosing the example of the community of Chavinda, a small town in the state of Michoacan, Alarcón describes the effect of international migration on the social organization, especially the emergence of strong social networks, that facilitate the job finding in the United States for family members. Chavinda becomes a "transnational community“ (Alarcón 1992:314). Due to the solid structure of these networks, control policies like it is tried to be implemented with the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, are not very effective. There are two other reasons for this ineffectiveness: First, there is still a demand for Mexican labor in the United States; second, the more than hundred years old migration movement from Mexico has created an economic dependence and social structures that make migration possible and necessary. As the study of Chavinda shows, the development of the migration process itself creates the condition for its perpetuation (Alarcón 1992:316). According to Alarcón's central hypotheses, you can identify the existence of a very close relationship between specific rural regions of Mexico and the US-labor market, a fact that after nearly one hundred years of migration between Mexico and the United States is not surprising. He calls this special relationship norteñización , a process "by which these communities have specialized in producing and reproducing international migrant workers by adapting their economic and social structures" (Alarcón 1992:305f.). The process of norteñización has to be analyzed in terms of its interaction with structural determinants: the relationship between Mexico and the United States, connected and separated by a common border, in reality means the clash of two entirely different developed economies. This economic asymmetry is the precondition for the existence of push-and-pull factors. You can add to this the differing demographic trends in both societies: 60% of the Mexican population is under age 25, compared with only 35% in the United States (Heppel/Torres 1996:59).

In addition to Alarcón's study I would like to mention the studies of Durand and Massey that could be useful for the conceptional framework of the planned case studies. Both researchers attempted in 1992 to systematize the rather disparate and contradictory research results on the effects of migration in a comparative study using their own model of "community-level factors“ (Durand/Massey 1992). In their comparative analysis they contradict the common theses of the more negative effects of migration for the sending country and stress the importance of remittances for the economic development of the sending regions.

The small number of studies stressing a positive effect of migration on the regions of origin is closely related with the fact that most of the migration research activities are focused on communities which are less suited for productive investment because of their geographical or structural position in the political economy of Mexico (Durand/Massey 1992:27). In general you can find studies of communities that do not have any access to local markets, have deficiencies in their water supply, often the soil is arid and leached out, and there is a lack of qualified workers. So what is missing in most of the studies on Mexican migration and its effects on development is the answer to the question, why productive investment in some communities is possible and in some it is not. Most of the results of the different studies show that investment in human capital and productive investments occur in cities, rural communities with access to city markets, or rural communities with favorite agricultural conditions (Durand/Massey 1992 as well as Durand/Parado/Massey 1997).

Morocco

There is generally a far smaller number of studies on Moroccan immigrants than on Mexican immigrants, which, additionally as it is described for the studies on Mexican migration to the United States equally concentrate on the economic effects of migration. Most of the Moroccan migrants come from the northern region, especially from the Rif. In 1994 there lived 1,425,000 Moroccan immigrants in the EU, 720,000 of these in France (SOPEMI 1997). This high number of immigrants is mainly caused by economic and demographic disparities between the Mediterranean countries of the EU and the Magreb countries. There is also a certain need for "illegal“ labor in the EU, despite the ever increasing border controls. The same phenomenon can be observed at the US-Mexican border. Internal causes are the demographic pressure and the lack of opportunities for employment. The demographic pressure favors a strong rural exodus, a phenomenon that impoverishes the rural regions ever more thus forcing the remaining people to migration.

At the beginning of the 1990s the EU commissioned relevant research centers in the three Magreb countries Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia to elaborate detailed studies on the problem of migration. The background for this commission was the "New Mediterranean policy“ that had been ceremoniously decided the Mediterranean conference in 1995 between the EU and the Mediterranean Third Countries (MTC) and baptized as "euro-mediterranean partnership“. The Moroccan research institute G.E.R.A. took the charge of the EU commission. The authors of the G.E.R.A.-study (1992) stress the dependence of the Moroccan economy on the remittances of the migrants. In their study they criticize the new guideline of the EU "More cooperation for less migration“. This guideline means that those countries which send the lowest number of immigrants to Europe will get the highest amount of development aid. Such a measure would hit the North-African countries especially hard because of their dependence on the remittances of their immigrants as indispensable source of foreign exchange.

Especially a country like Morocco would suffer from such restrictions: There is 1,5 mio. of Moroccans working in countries of the EU (France, Spain, Italy and Germany). In 1992 their remittances to Morocco reached nearly 2 thousand million US-$, an amount that covered nearly the whole debt-service of the country. During times of decreasing agricultural exports, diminishing reserves of phosphates and an uncertain future of the development of tourism, the remittances' increase of 8 percent since 1988 meant an important contribution to supply the Moroccan economy with foreign exchange (The Middle East, Feb. 94).

Touching the migration issue during the negotiation of the EU's New Mediterranean Policy (NMP) the Moroccan Minister of Foreign Affairs Abdellatif Filali argued in a similar way: "Without denying the legitimacy of restrictions that Europe is constructing against migrant flows, you have to bear in mind that these workers played an important role not only during the reconstruction but also in the maintenance of the economic growth of Europe. In the same way since the sixties' emigration has become an element of economic and social equilibrium for the Moroccan economy. Thanks to the earnings of the Moroccan workers in Europe their remittances constitute the most important source of foreign exchange ...“. So should the EU interrupt immigration, Morocco will call for financial compensations like investment of the EU in Morocco that create work opportunities for potential immigrants (Confluences 1993:49).

The authors of the GERA-study warn of the political implications that would result from an anti-immigration policy of the EU for Morocco: conflicts between returning immigrants looking for a job and native workers are inevitable. New political and social groupings arise, including religious organizations. Without any hope to find a job, the people would listen and follow the extremist political parties. Western xenophobia against immigrants will increase the files of the religious fundamentalists that are already profiting from anti-western feelings. Considering Morocco's strong dependence on the EU market, the authors warn of drastic changes in the immigration policy. Instead of these changes they favor a double nationality for Moroccan immigrants in the EU (G.E.R.A. 1992:158f).

Considering these warnings, the contribution, the immigrants themselves are rendering for the development of their region of origin becomes the more important. Among these contributions you have "cultural transfers“ that affect the social relations, change the manors of consumption and submit social structures (family, city, state) to profound changes, contribute a new significance to time and money (Charles Condamines, 1993: 12). Then you have financial transfers of the most varying forms: On the one hand, the institutionalized transfers like pensions and social insurance contributions which the immigrants have to pay in the guest countries and get back when they return to their home countries. On the other hand you have transfers of a more voluntarily kind: goods and money paid by relatives to their families in the region of origin. A study commissioned by the Panos Institute on the issue of "Migration and Development“ dealing with villages of the Sahel region (Panos 1993) underlines the fact that the in the development of rural infrastructure one can identify a huge gap between the activities of immigrants and the State. On the four basic needs - health, education, food and drinking-water - the immigrants' communities spent three times more money than the national institutions and nine times more than NGOs. The study of the activities of the migrant communities in the villages underlined the restructuration of traditional social structures. This restructuration you could detect on two levels: First you find new responsibilities and new responsibles, second there are emerging numerous small projects in the villages.

One structural failure you can find is the deficient formation of the villagers and in the existence of deep fractures inside the village associations, especially between old and young, men and women, illiterates and alphabets, etc.

Contradicting the often heard opinion of "development experts“ arguing that the immigrants are completely alien to the development of their home villages, the interviews carried out by Panos showed just the opposite: Both groups are in close contact with each other. On all levels, collective as familiar, the relations between "here and there“ become permanent. These relations often can be complicated and full of conflicts. But despite this they stress and demonstrate the recognition of the immigrants' ability of intervention and innovation in their home villages.

The migrants' contribution is not limited to the role of a moneyspender and the existence of a consensus between villagers and immigrants is essential for the realization of determined projects (Panos 1993:61f.).

Why the comparison of France/Morocco and United States/Mexico Both in France and in the United States - especially in the border regions to Mexico - the migration issue became a top-level issue of domestic policy and a major foreign policy issue since the beginning of the 1980, to which both countries react with harsher restrictions. In both countries you can detect a tightening of border controls and restrictions of immigration policy. The alleged peril of "Latinisation“ in the USA finds its counterpart in the alleged peril of "Islamisation“ in France. Other aspects also show the comparativity of the envisaged case studies:

Both in France and in the United States there are many networks of migrants that are acting as mediators between the different cultures.

Both Morocco and Mexico are dependent on the remittances of their migrants in France/United States.Both States - France and the United States - sponsored remigration projects during the seventies that resulted as a failure. Both States presume a positive relationship between development aid and a return movement of migration. Both regions are characterized by harsh economic, social and demographic contrasts: what the Mediterranean means to France, the Rio Grande means to the United States. France and the EU consider the implementation of a Free-Trade-Area as a way out of these harsh contrasts. The United States and Canada took this step in 1994 with the implementation of NAFTA. The basic idea of the Free-Trade-Area-Concept consists in economic liberalism, its aim is the creation of a Free-Trade-Area by 2010. Ways to reach this aim are the opening of markets for industrials products on the one hand and the free circulation of capital on the other hand. But the free movement of labor is excluded. An implicit goal is the palliation of migration.

Considering the sharp economic gap between the two shores of the Mediterranean and between the United States and Mexico, the question rises whether the implementation of a Free-Trade-Area could be considered as a useful instrument for reducing the gap. Numerous studies stress the opposite result: instead of a reduction of the gap a widening is observable. Advocates of Free-Trade-Area mention the successful transition of the Southern European countries, provided that there is an adequate assistance policy. The aim is a profound transformation of the interior structures of the Third-Mediterranean Countries (TMC) and Mexico, first a transformation of the structures of production, than of the institutional structures, the legislative and the social structures, fomenting "civil society“. Critics of the Free-Trade-Area concept stress the contradictions the concept entails: On the one hand, it demands from the governments and their heavy bureaucracies to adapt to the movements of people, goods, capital and ideas that pass outside their sphere of influence. On the other hand, it insists on control, the reduction of migration movements and the maintenance of stability and security in the region. This could result in an insoluble contradiction for the governments making them unable to act. Both positions should be analyzed in relation to the "euro-mediterranean partnership“ and the US-Mexican-Partnership.

Theoretical Framework

The global theoretical framework is based on Norbert Elias' concept, developed in his analysis of sociological proceedings in his famous work "The Society of Individuals" (Elias 1987). Adapting his idea to the Mexican and Moroccan examples means to consider how both societies transform into a "Society of Individuals". In both societies you can detect the existence of more or less vivid traditional elements often deeply rooted in societal customs as obstacles of modernization. The tension between tradition and modernity is to be illustrated by the case studies. Migrants are performing as modernizing actors, who only can be successful in their function as actors of development and "bridge between different cultures" if they undertake a carefully prepared transformation of their region of origin and are always ready for dialogue. In this context Arkouns' considerations on "learning by dialogue“ (Arkoun 1994) are also useful. Even though Arkoun's considerations are concentrated on the relationship between Islam and Christianity, his conclusions are transferable to the relations between Mexico and the United States as well.

The concept of "community-level factors“ developed by Durand and Massey (Durand/Massey 1992) is used for structuring the interviews. Relevant factors for the effects of migration are: The age of the migration stream, i.e. its historic dimension. A comparative analysis has to ponder the question whether the existence of migration movement has a tradition of more than hundred years as in the case of Mexico/United States or, whether it is only going back to the Second World War, as in the case of Morocco/France.

The degree of an equitable distribution of productive resources. This is especially relevant for the distribution of land. The quality of the local resources, especially of soil and the problems of water supply. Sectors, in which the first immigrants settled in the productive structures of the receiving countries (agriculture, services, industry) geographical, political and economic position of the immigrants in their countries of origin The importance of life-cycles for the immigrants and their families.

Objectives and Research Steps

In a time when migration looses its prospect for more and more immigrants to find a better way of life, when economic crises is threatening especially the immigrants who are already living in Europe or in the United States, it is the purpose of the proposed study to look for ways and means to make better use of the existing potential for development and mutual understanding ("bridge function") of the immigrants. The key question of the study deals with the real possibilities for the working, retired or jobless immigrants for a successful reintegration into their regions of origin. The aim is their integration in their respective home countries where they should have the means and possibilities to contribute to economic, social and cultural development to build up the basis for sustainable development in their region of origin. The comparison of two empirical case studies from Morocco and Mexico shall contribute to determine the conditions for successful return-migration. It is intended to show fields of action that demonstrate how European and North-African as well as US-American and Mexican NGOs, migrants' associations and other organizations could contribute to sustainable development through better and closer cooperation among them. It is important to stress the fact that immigrants are considered as dynamic actors of this development.

It is one of the study's objective to elaborate factors that contribute to a better understanding of the relationship between migration and development. For this purpose one cannot only consider the economic effects in the sending regions, but especially the effects on social organizations and cultural changes that are introduced by immigrants, e.g. changes in the consumption behaviour, social structures, a new significance of money and time.

Key Questions for Research

As mentioned above, the general objective of comparing the two case studies is to find out how migrants serve as mediators between home and host cultures, how migrant organizations fulfill this "bridge function" and which effects on migrants' identities, citizenship and re-integration into their home countries can be observed. The NGOs have been chosen because of the following criteria: The immigrants themselves are the relevant actors of development in their region of origin There are strong relations between immigrants, inhabitants of the region of origin and in the migrant's social and professional field in the receiving country The immigrants profit from these strong relations for the building of "bridges" between different cultures, e.g. through projects of professional training for jobless youth of the second generation, cultural exchange programs, etc. In-depth-interviews with representatives of NGOs, immigrants, family members, local officers shall contribute to find answers to the following questions: What are the motivations for the decision to return to the region of origin? Which kind of project is planned or realized in the region of origin (individual, cooperative)? What are the effects of the projects on the individual, familiar and community level? How do immigrant associations and local officers cooperate? How do they take their decisions, and how do they realize them and how do they guarantee their development? How do the immigrant associations organize themselves and how do they manage the support and fundraising for their projects? What are the relations between immigrant associations, NGOs and the official administration structured? How do immigrant associations achieve an official recognition from their country of origin and which forms of recognition are observable? What are the effects of the project in regard to the tendency to immigrate? To what extent are rural projects appropriate to meet with expectations of second generation immigrants, willing to return?

References