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Societies 2012, 2(3), 122-138; doi:10.3390/soc2030122

Article

Does Migration Lead to Development? Or is it Contributing to a Global Divide?

Annelies Zoomers and Gery Nijenhuis

International Development Studies, Department of Human Geography and Planning, Faculty of Geosciences, Utrecht University, Heidelberglaan 2, 3508 TC, Utrecht, The Netherlands

* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Received: 21 June 2012; in revised form: 22 August 2012 / Accepted: 27 August 2012 / Published: 12 September 2012

(This article belongs to the Special Issue On the Move: Human Migration Past, Present and Future)

Download PDF Full-Text [314 KB, uploaded 12 September 2012 15:25 CEST]

Abstract: This article aims to show that the benefits of international migration (often presented as a ‘global flow’) very much depend on the positionality of the areas involved, as well as the regional particularities. It is argued that countries producing south-north migration or diasporic states are in a more favorable position to benefit from international migration than countries that are mainly involved in south-south migration. In addition, the opportunity to benefit from international migration very much depends on geographical particularities. For example, international migration in the context of Latin America/USA is in many respects not comparable to what is happening in Africa, Asia, the EU and the Gulf States. Even though international migration is often described in terms of a growing connectedness in the age of globalization, it progresses also hand in hand with new gaps and regional divides.

Keywords: international migration; development; south-north migration; south-south migration; diasporic states; migration flows; regional differences

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