Distant warriors,distant peace workers? Multiple diaspora roles in Sri Lanka's violent conflict

This article provides a critical, empirically based analysis of the multiple ways in which diaspora communities participate in transnational politics related to their war‐affected former home countries. The case of Sri Lanka — and the Tamil and Sinhalese diasporas in the West — is used to illustrate how contemporary armed conflicts are increasingly waged in an international arena. Active diaspora groups have enabled an extension of nationalist mobilization, hostilities and polarization across the globe. Diaspora actors take part in propaganda work and fundraising in support of the belligerent parties in Sri Lanka, while the polarization between Sinhalese and Tamils is to a large extent replicated in the diaspora. However, there are also examples of diaspora groups that challenge war and militarism, for instance by calling for non‐violent conflict resolution, condemning atrocities by both sides, and engaging in cross‐ethnic dialogue. The article also argues that diaspora engagement in reconstruction of war‐torn areas can be a double‐edged sword, as it can reproduce — or reduce — grievances and inequalities that fuel the conflict. By discussing the many ways in which diasporas engage in homeland politics, the article challenges simplified understandings of diasporas as either‘warriors’or‘peace workers’ in relation to their homeland conflicts.     

Beyond Family Remittances: Assessing the Prospects of Alternative Approaches to “Remittances for Development” in Africa

This article examines the remittance patterns of Cameroonians residing in Aarhus, Denmark and discusses the findings in relation to those from earlier studies on migrants’ remittances. Based on analyses of the inclination of these Cameroonians to support development projects in Cameroon, it is argued that a strengthened partnership between local non‐state actors in Cameroon and the Cameroonian diaspora will significantly improve the role remittances can play in the country’s development. The article also highlights the framework, benefits and challenges of such potential partnership and suggests ways in which remittances from the Cameroonian diaspora in particular and African migrants in general, could be effectively channelled beyond migrants’ families to further the continent’s development drive.     

Resistance to Resolution: Explaining the Intractability of Ethnic Conflict in Sri Lanka

A brief history of the current ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka is presented. Next, a discussion of the characteristics of intractable conflict is offered. The conflict between the Sinhalese and Tamils in Sri Lanka is viewed in this light. Discussed are core aspects of Sinhalese and Tamil identity, each based on a mythic past and contentious present in which the two are antagonists. How this plays out and contributes to the intractability of the struggle is highlighted. Suggestions as to how this conflict might begin to be resolved are offered.     

In the path of heroes: second-generation Tamil-Canadians after the LTTE

This paper explores how second-generation Tamil-Canadian university students have modified their ‘cultural heritage’ in the period after the defeat of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in May 2009. Using a generational framework suggested by the work of Karl Mannheim, I show that the events of May 2009 situated second-generation Tamil-Canadian political activism as a response to the ambivalence of their parents to the conflict in Sri Lanka. Second-generation Tamil-Canadians are also shown to have altered the key LTTE symbol of the Maaveerar (great hero) to better fit a transnational social field that is framed by the new realities of post-LTTE Sri Lanka and by intolerance to imported conflict in Canada. I argue that the Tamil second generation is highly engaged with the politics of their cultural identity, and that this engagement may have a lasting influence on transnational Tamil identity and on the political status of the Tamil community within Canada.     

The Migration–Development Nexus: Afghanistan Case Study

This paper looks at the relationship between migration and development in the context of Afghanistan. It begins with a brief outline of the historical and political background to the refugee crisis of the past two decades, and looks briefly at the society and economy of Afghanistan. The history and pattern of aid flows are described and analysed in the next section, followed by consideration of migration and refugee flows over the past two decades, and of remittances and diaspora activities. Repatriation and reconstruction are covered in the following two sections. The penultimate section looks at lessons to be learned for policy making in Afghanistan in the future, and is followed by concluding observations.
A cautionary note on data on Afghanistan: although the recent months have seen a surge of interest and writing on Afghanistan, there has always been a shortage of data on the country. Much writing on Afghanistan, both by journalists and a few academics during the 1980s and 1990s, relates to politics, given the Cold War context of the conflict at the time. Most other data available on Afghanistan tend to come from aid agencies involved in the country. While this provides the bulk of information and data on aid and refugee issues – as reflected in the sources used in this paper – it has little to offer on other aspects of life in Afghanistan, especially on recent history and economy.     

Inducing Development: Social Remittances and the Expansion of Oil Palm

This paper investigates the relationship between social remittances and land‐use change in the context of South–South migration. Focusing on the cyclical movement of Filipino oil palm workers between the Philippine province of Palawan and the Malaysian State of Sabah, we show how migrants transmit social remittances, such as ideas of prosperity associated with oil palm development and knowledge of production practices and land impacts of oil palm plantations. These social remittances affect farmers’ decisions to engage in oil palm development within the migrants’ home province, possibly transforming subsistence agricultural systems into large‐scale, monocrop plantations. We argue that such land development outcomes are an understudied aspect of how migration affects developing countries, especially in the context of South–South migration. Research findings also suggest how migrants’ social remittances are transmitted, diffused, and utilized at broader social and political units, beyond return migrants’ households and immediate communities in Palawan. Decision outcomes, however, are variable, with households and communities either engaging in or opposing oil palm development, depending on how social remittances are interpreted.     

Language shift and the family: Questions from the Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora1

Fishman's Graded Intergenerational Disruption Scale (GIDS) emphasizes the family in maintaining the heritage languages of immigrant communities. This study uses interview data from Sri Lankan Tamil communities in the U.S.A., U.K., and Canada to explain how families account for the rapid loss of Tamil in the diaspora. It shows how the positive valuation of English since British colonization, the need to make up for past deprivations because of caste, religious, and gender inequality, the pressure for migrants to join the social mainstream, and the need to resolve intergenerational tensions influence the family to forego language maintenance goals. The findings encourage us to situate the family in macro‐social institutions, power, and history in order to understand the prospects for language maintenance. The article provides an inside view of the Sri Lankan Tamil migrant families to explain how they resolve the tensions of valuing cultural identity and yet disregarding heritage language proficiency.     

Migrant remittances and development

Income remittances from migrant workers to countries of origin are central to the links between migration and development. Multiple, complex, and diverse forces, however, affect the flow of remittances. Factors may include the number and characteristics of workers abroad; levels and types of economic activity in sending and host countries; differential wage, exchange, and interest rates; political risk; and the facility for transferring funds. These factors then shape personal decisions made by migrants and their families regarding remittances, after which any longer-range development consequences of remittances may result. Debate rages over the effects of remittances on development. This paper therefore reviews papers on the measurement of remittances and gives recent findings on the volume and direction of flows. It continues by considering evidence on the uses of remittances and their consequences for development, and closes with a discussion of policy options for increasing and channeling remittance flows.     

Remittances and Other Financial Flows to Developing Countries

Official estimates of migrants’ remittances are around US$100 billion annually, with some 60 per cent going to developing countries. Any policy making use of migrants as a development resource must understand the size and allocation of remittances, and the roles played by migrants and their communities in the remittance process. This paper examines the flows of remittances in relation to other financial flows to developing countries. The examination is based on data available from official statistics. As discussed in the paper, remittances by unofficial channels are significant by all accounts so the remittance amounts reported here are quite conservative. The paper shows that annual remittances to developing countries have more than doubled between 1988 and 1999. Viewed over the last decade, remittances have been a much larger source of income for developing countries than official development assistance (ODA). The gap is increasing, since ODA has been falling while remittances have increased. Furthermore, remittances appear to be a much more stable source of income than private flows, both direct and portfolio, which tend to be more volatile and flow into a limited set of countries. Remittances to developing countries go first and foremost to lower middleincome and low–income countries. Lower middle–income countries receive the largest amounts, but remittances constitute a much higher share of total international flows to low–income countries. Of the ten countries receiving most remittances, two are low–income (India and Pakistan); six are lower middle–income (Philippines, Turkey, Egypt, Morocco, Thailand, and Jordan); and two are upper middle–income (Mexico and Brazil). Sub–Saharan Africa received some 8 per cent of remittances in 1980, but only some 4 per cent in 1999. South Asia’s share also declined from what was already a relatively high 34 to 24 per cent. Those who gained most were Eastern Europe and Central Asia, South and Central America, and the Caribbean, which increased their share of global remittances.     

Emigration dynamics: the Indian context

This report on emigration dynamics in India opens by providing background on short- and long-distance migration to and from India in response to such events as the formation of Pakistan as well as to the policies of the British Empire and Commonwealth. Section 2 discusses India's demographic and sociocultural setting in terms of population growth, urbanization, patterns of internal migration, growth of the labor force, economic growth, poverty alleviation, health, and education. The third section describes the lack of data on international migration. Some data are available on emigrants, but the only information on return migration is that gleaned from surveys in Kerala. Section 4 considers emigration to industrialized countries and notes that it is almost exclusively permanent and largely composed of individuals with professional, technical, or managerial skills. The resulting brain drain is described as is the incidence of illegal migration. India does not create conditions from which citizens must seek asylum, rather the country has absorbed flows of refugees from Pakistan, Tibet, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, and Sri Lanka. Available data on the characteristics of emigrants and return migrants are reviewed in the next two sections, and section 7 looks at the data on financial flows gathered from macro-level estimates of remittances. Section 8 is devoted to the community, family, and individual factors which influence emigration including the networks that facilitate migration and means of meeting migration costs. The ninth section summarizes the political setting with an emphasis on the adverse reaction of Nepal to population movement from India. The final section of the report projects future population movements. It is noted that if there were no restrictions on migration, millions of Indians would emigrate to the Americas, Africa, and Australia. Whereas poverty, unemployment, and population growth will likely erode living conditions in India, the government has no policy to encourage emigration. Labor migration to the Gulf countries will likely continue.     

Factoring Turbulence Out: Diaspora Regulatory Mechanism and Migration Development Bank

The ongoing economic crisis has shifted much of the policy debate to problems of financial sector regulation, productive capacity collapse, among others. However, this leaves unattended the real situation with labour migration, which directly impacts social and economic inner components of being of millions of individual families across the world. The somewhat ad hoc nature of the process poses several policy issues for the home and host economies alike. Immediate concerns relate to streamlining migrants and remittances flows. This involves sensitive aspects of inequality in migrant workers’ labour efforts vis‐à‐vis domestic workers; migrants’ social and legal status; and less obvious, but still profound, unproductive misallocation of labour resources. Derived from this premise and recognizing the need for an institutional approach, this paper offers alternative policy solutions to temporary labour migration regulation. This research’s original propositions include a Diaspora Regulatory Mechanism and a Migration Development Bank, both operating within a state‐managed temporary labour migration regime. Fiscal action, including multilateral agreements, is crucial. The functionality of these mechanisms will directly impact infrastructure, human capital and entrepreneurial projects development in both home and host economies. Discussion is inspired by the analysis of actual circumstances in the economies of the Commonwealth of Independent States, where migration is a social, economic, and increasingly political issue. In the interlinked world, diasporas become dominant actors across all society strata. The development plateau of the post‐socialist states offers a rich economic and social soil to conduct responsible policy with future outlook. Moreover, conditions of ongoing economic crisis offer a unique opportunity for daring research to propose and for a motivated decisionmaker to implement original, proactive, and beneficial policy solutions aimed at streamlining the (temporary) labour migration process. This paper contributes to the emerging literature on topics of diaspora, labour migration, and remittance flows.     

Migration Plans and Received Remittances: Evidence from Fiji and Tonga1

This paper investigates the relationship between remittances and migration intentions in the source country using data from households in the Pacific island countries of Tonga and Fiji. Unlike previous research it accounts for potential endogeneity in the relationship between remittances and intentions and also includes households that receive remittances but do not have current migrants. We find a positive impact of remittances on intentions. The impact of remittances on intentions is stronger in a country with a longer history of migration and stronger in households with current migrants than those without migrants. These results provide new evidence on the role of remittances in the development of migration chains.     

Improving the contribution of migrant remittances to development: the experience of Asian labour-exporting countries

"The purpose of this paper is to review policy initiatives [concerning migrant remittances] in six major labour-exporting countries in Asia--Bangladesh, India, Korea, the Philippines, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Thailand. Where relevant, the experience of these countries will be compared and contrasted with those of labour-exporting countries in other parts of the world....[The author concludes that] the imposition of mandatory remittance requirements on migrant workers is unlikely to enhance remittance inflows unless the government of the labour-exporting country effectively controls the migration process." (SUMMARY IN FRE AND SPA)     

The new economics of labour migration and the role of remittances in the migration process

This analysis considers international migration remittances and their impact on development in migrant-sending areas. The new economics of labor migration (NELM) posit that remittances lessen production and market constraints faced by households in poor developing countries. The article states that remittances may be a positive factor in economic development, which should be nurtured by economic policies. The impact of remittances and migration on development varies across locales and is influenced by migrants' remittance behavior and by economic contexts. Criteria for measuring development gains may include assessments of income growth, inequity, and poverty alleviation. It is hard to gauge the level of remittances, especially when remittances may not flow through formal banking systems. The International Monetary Fund distinguishes between worker remittances sent home for over 1 year; employee compensation including the value of in-kind benefits for under 1 year; and the net worth of migrants who move between countries. This sum amounted to under $2 billion in 1970 and $70 billion in 1995. The cumulative sum of remittances, employee compensation, and transfers was almost $1 trillion, of which almost 66% was worker remittances, 25% was employee compensation, and almost 10% was transfers during 1980-95. Total world remittances surpass overseas development assistance. Remittances are unequally distributed across and between countries. Migration research does not adequately reveal the range and complexity of impacts. Push factors can limit options for use of remittances to stimulate development.     

Effects of Workers' Remittances and its Volatility on Economic Growth in South Asia

This study investigates the effect of workers' remittances and its volatility on economic growth of five South Asian countries by employing long time series data from 1975 to 2009. Cointegration results confirm a significant positive long run relationship between remittances and economic growth in India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal, but a significant negative relationship in Pakistan. Conversely, the volatility of workers' remittances has a negative and significant effect on economic growth in Pakistan, Indian, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, but a negative but insignificant impact in Nepal. All sensitivity analyses confirm that the results are robust. A less volatile inflow of workers' remittances is growth‐enhancing for all countries. It is suggested that policy makers should make policies to reduce the transaction cost to welcome remittances into the region. Furthermore, countries like Pakistan should make the policies to discourage voluntary unemployment.

Policy Implications

• This study show the positive effect of remittances on economic growth in India, Bangladesh, Sri‐Lanka and Nepal. These countries should create friendly policies to reduce the transaction cost to ensure the continuous inflows of workers' remittances.
• Results indicate a negative effect of remittances on economic growth in Pakistan. Remittances are considered an uninterrupted source of income, which may increase voluntary unemployment, leading to decreased economic growth. The government should make policies to discourage this voluntary unemployment.
• Policymakers should create effective systems to ensure this inflow comes through formal financial channels for better control.

     

Where do Remittances Go in Household Consumption? Empirical Evidence from Sri Lanka-Wide Micro-data

Private internal and international remittances are a major source of household money in Sri Lanka, yet their impact on household welfare has long been a research gap. Based on the Migration and Development Theory, this article examines how private remittances affect household expenditure behaviour, using nationally representative microdata and applying quasi-experimental methods. Private remittances have significantly increased household per-capita expenditure and initiated positive behavioural changes via increased allocations for basic needs, human and physical capital investment. Compared with internal remittances, the impact of international remittance shows a strong potential for reducing poverty incidence and improving people's well-being: households in richer/richest expenditure quartiles and urban households invest in education, which supports the country's long-standing record of education. Rural households demonstrate favourable changes in spending behaviour with receiving private remittances. From a public policy standpoint, government favours migration so that remittances are more likely to flow. A proper remittance-transfer mechanism to encourage smooth remittance is thus required.     

The Self at a Time of War in Northern Sri Lanka

The article takes one young Tamil woman, Vasantha, and her account of growing up in the northern war zone of Jaffna in Sri Lanka. Vasantha's narrative and her adolescence, like others of her generation, was framed by living at the margins of the Sri Lankan state (though under its bombardment) and under the control of a repressive quasi-state actor, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). In this article, I twin Vasantha's fashioning of her life-story with a meditation on the ways in which the Sri Lankan war, specifically LTTE control over Tamil lives, has come to ambivalently frame and produce particular understandings of selfhood, articulations of collectivity and individuality. Here, I argue that individuation takes many different forms, and, specifically, that the ruptures of war produces individuation in unexpected ways. I take Vasantha's story to explicate the experiences of young people in northern Sri Lanka, and, as an illustration of the contraction and expansion of particular possibilities of selfhood in the midst of political.     

Migration,development and remittances in rural Mexico

The argument is that remittances to Mexico from migrants in the US contribute to household prosperity and lessen the balance of payments problem. The purpose of this article is to provide an overview of the incentives and constraints to development and individual economic well-being in rural Mexico. Examination is made of the financial amount of remittances, the use of remittances, the impact on development of remittances, models of migration, and migration historically. The viewpoint is that migration satisfies labor needs in developed countries to the detriment of underdeveloped countries. $2 billion a year are sent by illegal migrants from the US to Mexico. This sum is 4 times the net earning of Mexico's tourist trade. 21.1% of the Mexican population depend in part on money sent from the US. 79% of illegal migrants remitted money to relatives in Jalisco state. 70% of migrant families receive $170/month. In Guadalupe, 73% of families depended on migrant income. In Villa Guerrero, 50% of households depended on migrant income. Migrant income supported 1 out of 5 households in Mexico. Money is usually spent of household subsistence items. Sometimes money is also spent on community religious festivals, marriage ceremonies, and education of children or improved living conditions. Examples are given of money being used for investment in land and livestock. Migration affects community solidarity, and comparative ethic, and the influence on others to migrate. Employment opportunities are not expanded and cottage and community industries are threatened. Land purchases did not result in land improvements. Migration models are deficient. There is a macro/micro dichotomy. The push-and-pull system is not controllable by individual migrants. The migration remittance model is a product of unequal development and a mechanism feeding migration. Mexican migration has occurred since the 1880's; seasonal migration was encouraged. There was coercion to return to Mexico after the economic recession of World War I; the door was firmly closely during the Great Depression of 1929-35. The 1980 estimates of illegal Mexican migrants totaled 2-9 million, which is the largest flow in the world. US industrial presence and Mexican development have reinforced migration flows. Regional and international capitalist requirements govern migration.     

Averting Forced Migration in Countries in Transition

Many countries of emigration are in transition from conflict to peace and from authoritarian to democratic governments. Addressing population movements from these countries requires more than economic opportunities; equally important is the establishment of the rule of law, respect for human rights, and, in countries recovering from conflict, reconstruction of destroyed infrastructure and housing. Otherwise, fragile peace and democratization processes can easily break down, creating new waves of forced migrants and hampering efforts towards repatriation and reintegration of already displaced populations. This background paper discusses the nature of forced migration, pointing out that the end of the Cold War has produced new pressures and new opportunities to address these flows. While extremism, particularly rampant nationalism, has provoked massive forced migration in many parts of the world, the changing geopolitical relations has also led to peace settlements in some countries and humanitarian intervention to reduce suffering in others. Addressing forced migration pressures in countries in transition requires comprehensive policy approaches. Four types of best practices are considered in this paper. First, mechanisms to ameliorate the causes of forced movements, including the role that expatriate communities can play in strengthening the rule of law and respect for human rights, particularly minority rights. Second, mechanisms that enhance refugee protection while minimizing abuses of asylum systems, including enhanced respect for the refugee convention, adoption of complementary forms of protection when the refugee convention does not apply, strengthened regional protection, and the establishment of in–country processing of refugee claims. Third, mechanisms to resolve the longer–term status of forced migrants, including decisions on when to cease refugee status and temporary protection and encourage/permit return or integration. Fourth, mechanisms for more effective repatriation when return is possible, particularly programs to help returnees reintegrate and communities reconstruct themselves.