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From Thesis

MOVING - MA Thesis International Relations - Sven Jense

This is the work-in-progress on my Masters Thesis. You are encouraged to join! Please see my welcome-note here, and my journal/blog here.

THE WORK ON MY THESIS IS CONTINUED IN A WORD-DOCUMENT AS THIS SITE DIDN'T PROVE TO BE PRACTICAL WHEN HANDLING LARGE CHUNKS OF TEXT. Here you find a draft version.

Parallel to this work I develop the SeeS Project, ideas for which are for now cherished on this page.

And see here the preliminary pages on the role of art and culture for development.

1 Introduction
2 Questions
3 Illustrative Storyline
4 Argument
5 Sources
6 Notes

Introduction

Motivation, it's personal, to keep me going and on track.

Main Argument of this thesis.

I deliberately write on migration and development, because in a way migrants and the stories they have bring inequality, poverty and development closer to the 'Western' public minds. My hidden agenda is to hijack the migration debate from left to right wing, to stress the need for development. Economic growth should be the main means of development, history shows. Secondly, personal decisions are made based on intuition and, especially under conditions of scarcity, on economic grounds. For these reasons, an economic theoretical approach will be used to describe the circular migration discourse and sketch some European and national policy guidelines.

Hans Rosling: economic growth = means, human rights and culture = goals. Do watch this presentation!

Questions

When is circular migration a contribution to development of countries of the bottom billion? In other words, under what circumstances do circular migrants promote economic growth in their home countries? What could a successful system look like? How can it be established?

African circular migration unknown but unlikely to be substantial. As path for development, US-Mex and Germany-Eastern Europe cases are evaluated to suggest future directions for African-EU migration.

When can circular migration be beneficial for the development of the 'bottom billion'?

Can circular migration be a step in unfreezing the 'frozen free-market factor', labour?

What is the potential for circular migration as a development tool? How can circular migration play a role in decreasing inequality between the West and the developing world?