Transnational Migration by Thomas Faist - Book Report/Review Example

TRANSNATIONAL MIGRATION How does “Transnational Migration” by Thomas Faist, Margit Fauser and Eveline Reisenauer Unpack Transnational Migration? Transnational migration is the study of people whose lives span in different locales in different countries. “Transnational Migration” by Thomas Faist, Margit Fauser and Eveline Reisenauer is a book that sheds light into the heightened interconnections between bordering countries by contributing strongly on the issue of immigration. The paper explores the immigration overview as presented in the book while incorporating other relevant materials in order to develop the main argument of this paper which is to unpack transnational migration. This paper provides an overview of the sending country as well as that of the diaspora and the efforts, policies and programs put forwards to ensure effective integration. The paper seeks to link the theoretical discussions about immigration with relevant cases and examples. The paper is organized in questions in order to logically present the arguments in an organized manner. “Transnational Migration” by Thomas Faist, Margit Fauser and Eveline Reisenauer provides an overview of transnational migration by analyzing how people cross the border, how their lives manifest across the border and how their families develop politically, economically and socially. The book argues that immigrants are not interested in just crossing the border, but also in betterment and survival by developing a lifestyle strategy. The concept of cross-border migration not only applies to sustained transnational ties, but also to ties established by national minorities who have been living outside their original kin states such as the Hungarians who have been living in Romani and Slovakia, outside Hungary. This case of Hungary is much like that of Germany. Germany identified with the majority groups and therefore would not allow minority groups, who were recruited to work as immigrant workers to establish permanent residents in Germany and bring their culture and decent there. After the decline of labor recruitment and the immigrant workers settled there, Germany had to accept the permanent nature of immigration. Transnational approach explores transnationalism as process that indicates sustained ties, events and activities that take place across several national borders. The book introduces every chapter with a case study drawn from either cross border links between Mexico and the United States, Latin America, Germany or Turkey. The methodological of studying transnational migration takes into perspective a focus on transnational social spaces as transnationalism can be observed in degree degrees in all spheres of social life as no particular single unit can effectively address transnationalism. As such, social spaces are seen as a perspective that enhances understanding of migration and its consequences. The authors pay attentions to three distinctive concepts that re used to understand the life chances available for the immigrants. The concepts of development, migrant integration and political practices. Through these perspectives, the readers can comprehend clearly significance of aspects such as the sending country, different communities and the diaspora for economic transformation and social change. Towards the end, the book develops research methodology in order to draw conclusion on the methodological challenges involved in unpacking transnationalism and possible remedies to the problems. In particular, the book draws from the principle of social order in reference to civil society. s in order to establish relationships between migration, settlement and development in the context of daily life. The main argument of the book is that a transnational approach is needed in order to understand the tendencies of international migration. The observation of the immigrants reveals that they do not dissolve their ties with people from their country of origin and the communities. Instead, there is a great tendency to not only maintain the old ties, but also to form new ones. s to the economic, political and cultural practices. border between the USA and Latin America. The book starts by acknowledging that transnational migration is a reality that has to be understood as people will undeniably continue to cross borders for a variety of reasons, such as education advancement, or in search for greener pastures in terms of employment (Thomas, Margit & Eveline, 2012: 6). The authors adopt a transnational perspective to unpack transnational migration. The concept of transnationality and social practices provides an overview of the transnational communities, circuits and small groups as characterized by a primary mechanism of integration, exchange of social, political, cultural and economic circuits and the achievement of solidarity. The authors hold that for conducive transnational migration, there should be effectively set programs and policies of integrating the immigrants in economic, social and political scenarios devoid of restrictions and discrimination. As such, transnational practices are important in ensuring that the immigrants get fully integrated into their new locations while still exercising their cultural, social, political and economic practices. This is aided by technological variables and political opportunities that give the immigrants a multicultural right for enhancement of easy border crossing (Thomas, Margit & Eveline, 2013: 95-96). What is the role of immigrant Integration, Political Practices and development within transnational migration? The practice of transnational migration have different dimensions ranging from familial to the national dimensions. The most common transnational practices include participating in the electoral process in the country of origin, belonging to hometown associations, investing in entrepreneurial ventures, marrying a spouse from the home, sponsoring family members through reunification programs, traveling, investing in land and housing, traveling, sending remittances and goods, among others (Levitt, 2001: 462). All of which are practices that require sustained and regular social contacts across national borders in the long run. Integration is applied as a tool for enhancing transnational migration in the sending country by linking the population in the diaspora to the population in sending country (Thomas, Margit & Eveline, 2013: 44). Proper integration of immigrants is shown by indicators that have a direct impact on the social, political and economic lives of the immigrants. Integration is indicated by opportunities of meaningful employment, provision for health care services, universal access to primary education, gender equality, income inequality, poverty alleviation and improvement of the social well-being of the immigrant (de Haas 2007: 56). In the case of the Mexican immigrants in the USA, there have been immense activities and operations that have been put forward to ensure adequate integration. Different programs have been created in order to deal with migrant organizations such as Hometown Associations (HTAs), leadership development, financial education and health. Non-profit organizations also have an influential role to play in integration efforts by ensuring political incorporation of immigrants in the diaspora. They promote for political advocacy by responding to political regulations that restrict immigrant’s political participation in the contemporary urban America (Graauw, 2008:324). In this case, transnationalism play an equally large role for both the sending and receiving countries, however, it mostly affects the sending state. For effective integration, the sending country should engage their migrant population abroad in order to ensure that they are kept at per with the current social, cultural and political practices while giving them a chance to participant in such activities. However, such efforts have in the past been viewed with a lot of criticism and mistrust. The programs are taken to have self-interest as opposed to helping their abroad population gain effective integration in their new homes. For instance, the Mexican government has endured a lot of criticism from the Washington based Centre for Immigration Studies for stretching its ties with the diaspora population and in their efforts to enhance comprehensive immigration (Délano, 2004: 238). The Mexican government is criticized for not having practical policies and programs for effective integration as they cannot account for the number of people crossing the border to the United States due to increased cases of illegal border crossing. As such, it is prudent to note that the sending country and the diaspora both have roles to play in ensuring effective integration as they influence social changes and welfare of the immigrants in the diaspora. The book analyzes the migrant transnational social spaces for civil society and the role they play in formulation of policies and action for effective integration (Thomas, Margit & Eveline, 2013: 176). Some migration policies are formulated in order to enhance or decrease migration, development and integration, while other policies have been formulated to ensure that immigrants are politically integrated. For instance, Mexico ensures integration of Mexican immigrants and also those in the USA by establishing the Institute of Mexicans Abroad which has the mandate of overseeing the issues of immigrants with respect to integration into their country of choice. The Mexican government has also granted immigrants, or people with dual-nationality, an opportunity to exercise their political rights, such as absentee voting rights (Délano, 2004: 238). However, most of the migration policies fail to achieve their intended purpose resulting to states failing to effectively manage migration. “Paradoxically, the ability to control migration has shrunk as the desire to do so has increased. The reality is that borders are beyond control and little can be done to really cut down on immigration, as well as the issue with developed countries being against this. The less developed countries also seem overwhelmed by forces propelling emigration. Thus, there must be a seismic shift in the way migration is addressed: governments must reorient their policies from attempting to curtail migration to coping and working with it to seek benefits for all.” (Bhagwati, 2003: 99). As such, the country has no control of the effects of immigration on the society. This leads to undocumented migration as a result of the government’s inability to control migration despite the heightened desire and need to do so, resulting in an increased number of unregistered immigrants (Délano & Nienass, 2014: 408). Factors that affect the implementation of the migration policies include; such as immigrant security, immigrants voting rights and potential backlash in the attempts of the government to ensure integration (Thomas, Margit & Eveline, 2013: 145). Whereas the integration policies are effectively formulated, they fail to ensure effective transnational practices especially due to explanatory models that are one-sided in explaining the concept of migration. When the concept of migration is taken in an isolated context without drawing in all the aspects involved in migration, the policies fail to handle the issues in totality. These polices are also hampered by conflicts of interest between international and national politics. As such, the policies formulated are implemented with contradictory objectives (Castles, 2004: 852).  The book provides insights into the concept of transnationalism and development of the local areas, improvement of the welfare of the community and the family through remittance of finances (Thomas, Margit & Eveline, 2013: 72-75). Development is often a great indicator of the quality of life that people live. However, development has to be integrated in the social, political and cultural freedom of the immigrant population in the diaspora in order to impact the quality of life of the immigrants. As such, policies of development such as institutional support from government, community, civic, religious and policies of the receiving government are effective in integrating the community. The development of the local ventures and enterprises in a properly integrated population is highly dependent on the population in the diaspora. The immigrants who are working in the diaspora help their families and communities financially by sending them money from time to time. This financial assistance has a huge impact on local development of the sending country due to local investment as it contributes to poverty reduction. Development is also looked at in the perspective of labor transfer. The sending countries view the diaspora as the point that brain drains their domestic resources, and thus, their income is considered important in the local development. Transnationalism can therefore be said to lead to sharing and transfer of ideas, labor and skills form the sending country to the diaspora, but also gain from financial remittance of integrated immigrants. It is therefore imperative to note that transnationalism is effective in enhancing local development in the sending country through the financial assistance from the diaspora. How does the concept of transnational social spaces influence transnational migration and what are its consequences? Transnational space is a phenomena that is described by a high density of interstitial ties of either formal or informal levels of institutions. There are various combinations that entails the concept of transnational social spaces, which can be networks of organizations that reach across borders of multiple states. A change in spatial organization of the world from ‘a space of places’ to a ‘space of flows’ can mean globalization (Castell, 1996:Ch. 6). Political, cultural and economic processes in transnational social spaces involve the accrual, effects and uses of various types of capital, their convertibility and volume. Trans-nationality spaces indicate that the migration and re-migration are not definite, rather they can be revocable decisions (Thomas, Margit & Eveline, 2013: 7). The other aspect of transnational spaces is that immigrants and refugees, who have settled outside their original country for a considerable time, have strong affinity to transnational links. The links in this case can be of informal nature such as family ties or institutionalized into political parties that will entertain branches in various countries of emigration and immigration. The authors of “Transnational Migration” view that transnational social spaces occupied by refugees and immigrants in both countries will tend to supplement the international space of sovereign nation-states (Thomas, Margit & Eveline, 2013: 55). The various forms of capital or resources of spatially immobile or mobile persons constitute transnational social spaces. This has brought about issues such as whether it is right for countries where the immigrants are to proceed and issue rights of dual citizenship. This can be explained by exploring the relationship between globalization and transnationalism. Globalization and transnational social spaces are two different concepts but they can be integrated, trans-nationalization overlaps with globalization but typically has a more insufficient purview. Globalization involves all states of the world but transnational process involve several states (Alexandra, 2004: 250). Migration policies are held to be affected by different aspects of daily lives such as human security, development and integration. This leads to failure of the policies and programs to achieve their declared objectives or have unintended consequences as migration is comprised of factors such as cultural, political, and demographic process, which condenses various links within that sphere. and supranational bodies. “Paradoxically, the ability to control migration has shrunk as the desire to do so has increased. The reality is that borders are beyond control and little can be done to really cut down on immigrationgovernments must reorient their policies from attempting to curtail migration to coping and working with it to seek benefits for all.” (Bhagwati, 2003: 99). This does not mean that states fail to influence migration through their policies. But many are the situations that the governments fail to achieve their declared objectives especially where the number of undocumented immigrants is very high.  Generally, citizenship has been meticulously linked with the development of nation-states. Current states are grounded on the congruity of boundaries that is demarcated by borders, which is accepted by neighboring states and other members of the international system of state. It is perplexing to institutionalize international links in dual state membership. This is because the more the transnational or multifocal links immigrants use, the larger their uncertainty towards the receiving organization. The weaker the pedigrees in the nation-state of settlement, the stronger the encouragements to form a transnational community, however, the more the immigrants are given rights in the diaspora, the more they are able to integrate and familiarize with the immigration country (Thomas, Margit & Eveline, 2013: 85). In short, dual state membership deters immigrant variation in the country of immigration, encourages association on the share of the popular groups, and tips to divided reliabilities among immigrants. It is imperative to note that dual state membership also lessens nationality to holding a passport and thus degrades citizenship as immigrants are not given the same rights as native citizens. permit a quicker look at the nature of dual state association, equaled to other notions of citizenship. Dual state membership Actions in transnational social spaces hold that membership is intricate. The natural corresponding to political actions and personalities covering nation-state borders in the proper political sphere is dual state membership as it gives people the freedom to participate rightfully both in the diaspora and in their sending countries. This method of transnational citizenship does not refute the reality or significance of boundaries and nation-states. It simply identifies the growing opportunity of attachment in two states. As such, it is imperative to deduce that the concept of social spaces has a direct influence in the crucial issue and challenges faced by immigrants in the diaspora. Furthermore they influence the immigrant’s public sphere such as citizenship, social integration of economic development. Conclusion The incorporation of concepts in “Transnational Migration” by Thomas Faist, Margit Fauser and Eveline Reisenauer and arguments about immigration and integration have been very insightful in this shedding more light on this paper. Transnational migration is influenced by immigration integration, political practices, development level of the immigrants and transnational social spaces. While various polices have been formulated by sending countries to ensure effective integration, most of the policies fail to achieve this objective due to the increased number of immigrants that are undocumented. Social spaces are intertwined with transnationalism and are therefore important in understanding trans-border processes. This is because they have a direct influence in the crucial issue and challenges faced by immigrants in the diaspora such as citizenship, social integration of economic development. References •Alexandra Délano, (2004). Immigrant Integration vs. Transnational Ties? The Role of the Sending State. The associated press. •Alexandra Délano & Benjamin Nienass, (2014). Invisible Victims: Undocumented Migrants and the Aftermath of September 11. Politics & Society, Vol. 42(3) 399 –421. •Bhagwati, J. (2003) “Borders Beyond Control: 98-104,” Foreign Afairs, 82( 1):98-104. •Castles. (2004). Factors That Make And Unmake Policies. Oxford University Press. 852- 879. •Faist, T. (2004) “Dual Citizenship as a Path-Dependent Process,” International Migration Review, 38(3):9 13-944. •Thomas Faist, Margit Fauser & Eveline Reisenauer, (2013). Transnational Migration. Oxford University Press. •Levitt, Peggy (2000). Migrants Participate Across Borders: Toward an Understanding of Forms and Consequences. In Immigration Research for a New Century. Nancy Foner, Ruben G. Rumbaut, and Steven J. Gold, eds. Pp. 459-479. New York: Russell Sage Foundation. and read what the book is about! THE SUMMARY NEEDS TO BE A FULL PAGE Read More