Migrating Beyond Networks: The Mechanisms of Sending State Intervention

• In Event: 3251 - Section on International Migration Refereed Roundtables (1 hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: 18. Sending Contexts

Abstract

This article analyzes the mechanisms through which sending state policies
intervene in labor migration flows. Relying primarily on data from the Philippine
state’s system of overseas contract migration, this article compares the main
modalities of sending state intervention with those identified by two established
theories of migration causation – social capital and world systems theory, which
both posit that the linkages between sending and receiving countries facilitate
migration flows. Sending state policies mimic or complement the two main
mechanisms of migration facilitation: risk/cost mitigation and the initiation of
contacts. They offer more formalized variations of the information distribution
and material support that occurs through migrant networks, and serve as a useful,
and sometimes necessary, counterpart to receiving states that are seeking to solve
labor market challenges or to exert more control over existing migration flows.
Finally, sending state can go beyond existing linkages through the explicit
targeting of particular markets and the development of domestic human capital.

Author

• Suzy K Lee, Binghamton University