Migration and the Developmental Impact of Migrant Remittances on the Urban Space in Tunisia: What Development Dynamics?

المؤلفون

  • المؤلف

  • Chiheb Yahyaoui

الكلمات المفتاحية:

Migration، Remittances، Development، Urban Spaces، Developmental Effectiveness

الملخص

Historically, migration has served as a key factor determining countries' development strategies and monetary and financial policies. This article traces the developmental impact of remittances and the social capital migrants take back to their home communities in urban spaces. Based on the assumption that migration is marked by developmental and urban dynamics in which migrants serve as agents of development in their local communities, the study identifies the main sectors and areas that absorb migrants' financial returns, as well as specific social criteria and contexts which have impacted the developmental effectiveness of migrants' investment behaviour.

المراجع

  1. Reports on illegal migration describe cases in which a father, mother, and infant son all perish together, or in which a mother dies with her newborn child, leaving her husband and one of her children in the country of origin. Security reports also reveal a shift in the types of people who venture out on potentially deadly journeys for the sake of immigrating. Migrants are no longer limited to the unemployed, those running from the law, and those lacking strong employment skills; rather, they include well-to-do families, mid-level state executives, and individuals with advanced degrees in modern scientific and technological disciplines.
  2. Aisha al-Tayeb, "al-Fatāh al-ʿArabiyya wa-l-Hijra ilā al-Jannāt al-Mawʿūda: Muḥāwala fī al-Fahm," Omran , vol. 6, no. 21 (Summer 2017), p. 8.
  3. Manuel Castells, Vers une théorie de la planification urbaine (Paris: Maspero, 1997), p. 25.
  4. Samir Bouzidi, "Mobilisation de la diaspora: Bonnes pratiques à l'international et éléments de transposabilité en Tunisie," LEMMA Projet de soutien au partenariat pour la mobilité UE Tunisie (Tunisie, 2018), pp. 8-11.
  5. Philippe Wanner, "L'apport des migrants au développement: Une perspective économique," Annuaire suisse de politique de développement , no. 27-2, 2008, mis en ligne le 22 mars 2010, p. 125, accessed on 27/9/2020, at: http://bit.ly/3DDVP6L
  6. According to the latest housing census (2014), the capital city's Ibn Khaldun neighbourhood of the Omrane Supérieur district has a population of 55,513, of whom 44,808 are over the age of fifteen, and 65.3 percent of whom have a primary to secondary school education. Ibn Khaldun neighbourhood of the Omrane Supérieur district has an unemployment rate of up to 16.17 percent, with more than a third of those employed working in education, health, and administrative services, followed by commerce. We find that 61.64 percent of them own the houses they live in, 81.03 percent of which are attached dwellings or one floor of an attached dwelling, and that more than half of them bought their residences rather than building them. See: The Republic of Tunisia, National Institute of Statistics, "General Population and Housing Census 2014," Statistiques Tunisie , accessed on 19/6/2022 at: https://bit.ly/3tKI1T5
  7. Abdelmalek Sayad, La Double Absence: des illusions de l'émigré aux souffrances de l'immigré (Paris: Éditions du Seuil, 1999), p. 18.
  8. Khalifa Chater, "Les mouvements migratoires entre la France et la Tunisie aux XIXe et XXe siècles, la dichotomie du langage," Cahiers de la Méditerranée, Mots et migrations , no. 54 (1997), pp. 37-54.
  9. Hassène Kassar, "Changements sociaux et émigration clandestine en Tunisie," XV Congrès de l'UIESP, Juillet 2005, Tours, France.
  10. Abd al-Latif al-Hurmasi, al-Dawla wa-l-Tanmiya fī al-Maghrib al-ʿArabī: Tūnis Anmūdhajan (Tunisia: Seras Publishing, 1993), pp. 35-50.
  11. Julan Tibu, al-Dawla al-Tūnisiyya wa-l-Tūnisiyyūn fī al-Khārij: Dirāsa Ḥawl Dīnāmīkiyāt al-Jāliyāt al-ʿArabiyya al-Maghribiyya: Taʿzīz al-Musāhamāt al-Ījābiyyah fī al-Tanmiya al-Ijtimāʿiyyah wa-l-Iqtiṣādiyyah wa-l-Taḥawwulāt al-Dīmuqrāṭiyyah fī Awṭānihim al-Aṣliyyah (Cairo: International Organisation of Migration: The Arab League, 2012), p. 110.
  12. Abdul Qadir Latrash, " Wāqiʿ al-Hijrāt al-Maghāribiyyah wa Taḥawwulātuhā ," Omran , vol. 1, no. 3 (Winter 2013), pp. 127-128.
  13. In other words, paths of migration and the evolution in its volume and forms are associated with changes and developments in both communities of origin and host communities. The "Glorious Thirty" refers to the period after World War II during which "North America and Western Europe achieved remarkable rates of economic growth and relatively low levels of inequality for capitalist societies, while instituting a broad range of benefits for workers, students, and retirees. From roughly 1980 on, however, the neoliberal movement, rooted in the laissez-faire economic theories of Milton Friedman, launched what became a full-scale assault on workers' power and an attempt, often remarkably successful, to eviscerate the social welfare state." See: Juan Cole, "From Oakland to Tunisia: How a New Age of Activism was Born," Mother Jones , accessed on 5/2/2023, at: http://bit.ly/3JJ2Err
  14. Economic Commission for Africa and Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia and Africa, A Study on Remittances from Tunisians Living Abroad (North Africa: United Nations, 2015), p. 3.
  15. United Nations, International Organization for Migration, Taqrīr al-Hijra fī al-ʿĀlam li-ʿĀm 2018 , accessed on 20/6/2022, at: https://bit.ly/3HEli0o; United Nations, International Organization for Migration, United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia, Taqrīr al-Hijra al- Dawliyyah li-ʿĀm 2015: al-Hijra wa-l-Nuzūḥ wa-l-Tanmiya fī Manṭiqa ʿArabiyyah Mutaghayyirah , accessed on 20/6/2022, at: https://bit.ly/2GQHrLc; United Nations, International Organization for Migration, United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia, Taqrīr al-Hijra al- Dawliyyah li-ʿĀm 2019: al-Ittifāq al-ʿĀlamī min Ajl al-Hijra al-Āmina wa-l-Munaẓama wa-l-Niẓāmiyyah fī Siyāq al-Manṭiqa al-ʿArabiyyah , accessed on 25/7/2020, at: https://bit.ly/3n2T4TE
  16. A personal interview in Ibn Khaldun neighbourhood of the Omrane Supérieur district, Tunis, on 7/1/2020 with M. H., a 30-year-old man without a steady job who works with a relative selling grain.
  17. A personal interview in Ibn Khaldun neighbourhood of the Omrane Supérieur district, on 7/1/2020 with T. K., a 22-year-old student with a diploma in applied media who is preparing to leave for Germany after obtaining a scholarship from a German university.
  18. Abd al-Rahman al-Maliki, al-Thaqāfa wa-l-Majāl: Dirāsa fī Susyulūjya al-Taḥaḍḍur wa-l-Hijra fī al-Maghrib (Fez: Faculty of Arts, Dahr al- Mahraz, Sociology of Social Development Lab, 2015), pp. 183-184.
  19. Abdullah Bel Abbas, "Ẓāhirat al-Hijra ʿInd ʿAbd al-Mālik Ṣayyād: Min al-Siyāq al-Tārīkhī ilā al-Namūdhaj al-Susyulūjī," Insāniyāt , no. 62 (2013), pp. 25-38.
  20. The collective dimension of the rationality of the act of migration comes not only from the family's participation in decision-making, but also from the fact that the family shares values, ideas, perceptions, attitudes, and expectations that motivate and encourage family agreement on the decision to migrate.
  21. Abdel Sattar al-Sahbani, al-Shabāb wa-l-Hijra Ghayr al-Niẓāmiyyah fī Tūnis: Dirāsa Maydāniyya li-l-Tamaththulāt al-Ijtimāʿiyya wa-l-Mumārasāt wa-l-Intiẓārāt (Tunisia: Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights, 2016), pp. 124-125.
  22. Étienne Piguet, "Les théories des migrations. Synthèse de la prise de décision individuelle," Revue européenne des migrations internationales , vol. 29, no. 3 (1/9/2016).
  23. Jordan Pinel, "Séraphin Gilles, Famille et migration," Revue européenne des migrations internationales , vol. 35, no. 1-2 (1/10/2019).
  24. These include, for example: al-Sahbani; Mehdi Mabrouk, Ashriʿa wa-Milḥ: Thaqāfat a-Hijra al-Sirriyyah: al-Shabakāt wa-l-Tanẓīm (Tunis: Dar Sahr lil-Nashr, 2010); al-Tayeb; United Nations, United Nations Population Fund, Danish Refugee Council (Mixed Migration Monitoring Mechanism "Mi4"), " Mashrūʿal-Hijra al-mukhtalaṭa li-l-Shabāb, Dawāfiʿ al-Hijra wa-l-Ḥājiyāt li-l-Khadamāt al-Mutaʿalliqa bi-l-Ṣiḥḥa al-Jinsiyyah wa-l-Injābiyyah: Dirāsa Kammiyyah wa Nawʿiyyah li-l-Muhājirīn al-Shabāb fī Tūnis al-Kubrā 2017 " (April 2018), accessed on 21/6/2022, at: https://bit.ly/2HIE9uC; Republic of Tunisia, United Nations, Office of the United Nations Population Fund in Tunisia, al-Taqrīr al-Waṭanī li-Taqyīm Mustawā Tanfīdh al-Jumhūriyyah al-Tūnisiyya li-Barnāmaj Aʿmāl al-Muʾtamar al-Dawlī li-l-Sukkān wa-l-Tanmiya +20 (Tunisia: June 2013), pp. 165-175, accessed on 21/6/2022, at: https://bit.ly/40r3sY5 Source: Prepared by the researcher based on: Republic of Tunisia, Ministry of Social Affairs, National Observatory for Migration, "International Migration in Numbers Based on the National Survey of International Migration in Tunisia," accessed on 20/6/2022, at: https://bit.ly/3n4M0pL.
  25. Republic of Tunisia, Ministry of Social Affairs, National Observatory of International Migration, al-Hijra al-Dawliyya fī Arqām min Khilāl al- Masḥ al-Waṭanī li-l-Hijra al-Dawliyya bi Tūnis, accessed on 20/6/2022, at: https://bit.ly/3n4M0pL
  26. From a personal interview, Ibn Khaldun neighbourhood of the Omrane Supérieur district, Tunis, 8/1/2020 with S. F., a 50-year-old man who traveled to France illegally 20 years ago, but who was able to straighten out his situation in the host country and improve his family's situation. He has now added an upper floor to his house and completed a commercial project in his neighborhood.
  27. Such as those done by Abd al-Sattar al-Sahbani, Mehdi Mabrouk, Muhammad Ali bin Zina, Aisha al-Tayeb, and others, as well as Arab Index surveys, the Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies.
  28. Mehdi Mabrouk, "El Harikoun, pour une approche sociologique du milieu social des immigrés clandestins et de leur imaginaire," Revue tunisienne de sciences sociales , no. 125 (2003), pp. 15-49. Source: Prepared by the researcher based on Arab Index 2017/2018, The Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies, accessed on 16/6/2022, at: https://bit.ly/2LadHMF
  29. The Arab Index 2017/2018," Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies , accessed on 16/6/2022, at: https://bit.ly/2LadHMF
  30. Victor Piché, Les théories de la migration, Collection: Manuels et Textes fondamentaux (Paris: INED, 2013), pp. 21-22. Source: Prepared by the researcher, based on: The Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies, The Arab Index 2017/2018, seen on 6/16/2022, at: https://bit.ly/2LadHMF
  31. Alain Degenne & Michel Forsé, Les Réseaux sociaux. Une Analyse structurale en sociologie (Paris: Éditions Armand Colin, 1994).
  32. Mark S. Granovetter, "The Power of Weak Ties," Thaer Deeb (trans.), Omran , vol. 7, no. 26 (2018), pp. 137-138.
  33. Gilles Séraphin, Famille et migration, Recherches familiales , no. 13 (Paris: Éd. Union Nationale des Associations Familiales, 2016), p. 3.
  34. The Arab Index 2019/2020," Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies , accessed on 10/3/2021, at: https://bit.ly/3Qno8eq
  35. Ridha Boukraa, "Migration, interculturalité et intégration: Approche globale," in: Actes de la deuxième Ecole d'Eté sur la Migration, Migration et Développement Durable en Tunisie: observations, analyses et perspectives (Tunis: Organisation Internationale pour les Migrations, 2016), p. 40.
  36. According to data from the Central Bank of Tunisia, remittances of Tunisians abroad grew at an average annual rate of nearly 20 percent, from $508 million in 1992 to $3984 million ($3.98 billion) in 2014, reaching DT 4949.3 million (4.94 billion) in 2019. Remittances from Tunisian workers abroad Capital income (expenses) Source: Banque Centrale De Tunisie, 2020: Banque Centrale De Tunisie, Balance Des Paiements Et Position Extérieure Globale De La Tunisie (Tunisie: Décembre 2021), accessed on 20/6/ 2022, at: https://bit.ly/3tNWttj.
  37. The calculation of the US dollar amount is always based on the exchange rate of the dollar against the Tunisian dinar during the same year as given in the Central Bank of Tunisia's annual averages for interbank exchange rates. See: "Monetary, Economic and Financial Statistics," Central Bank of Tunisia , accessed on 20/6/2022, at: https://bit.ly/3tNmvgo
  38. Banque Centrale De Tunisie, La Balance Des paiements Et La Position Extérieure Globale De La Tunisie (Tunisie: Décembre 2019), p. 24.
  39. Annual Report 2017," Central Bank of Tunisia , accessed on 16/4/2022, at: http://bit.ly/3JJXuvw
  40. Annual Report 2019," Central Bank of Tunisia , accessed on 16/4/2022, at: https://bit.ly/3Ry1wcb
  41. Tunisians of the World are a virtual platform for Tunisians abroad," Republic of Tunisia, Ministry of Social Affairs, National Observatory for Migration , accessed on 20/6/2022, at: http://bit.ly/3Y8NIXX
  42. Adel Washani, " al-Māl al-Muhājir fī Tūnis wa Imkānāt Taf ʿīlihi fī Taḥqīq al-Tanmiya: al-Furṣa al-Ḍāʾiʿa, " al-Mustaqbal al-Arabi , no. 475 (September 2018).
  43. A personal interview on 8/6/2020 with S. M., a 60-year-old man who spent 35 years in France. After returning permanently to Tunisia some time ago, he settled in the capital city's new Ibn Khaldun neighbourhood of the Omrane Supérieur district, and made great improvements to his residence.
  44. Cheikh Samba Wade & Aboubacry Wade, "La migration, facteur urbanisant et de développement socio territorial dans la vallée du fleuve Sénégal," Études caribéennes (Avril-Août 2018), pp. 39-40.
  45. Important figures on remittances of Tunisians abroad," African Manager , 5/27/2021, accessed on 4/12/2022, at: https://bit.ly/3632r0O
  46. Nations Unies, Migrations internationales et développement , Rapport du Secrétaire général (New York: 2006), pp. 50-54.
  47. Ibid., A/60/871, p. 69.
  48. Peggy Levitt, " Social Remittances: A Conceptual Tool for Understanding Migration and Development ," Working Paper Series , no. 96. 04, Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies, Cambridge, 1996.
  49. Nesrine Amina Benhaddad & Nacer-eddine Hammouda, "Contribution des migrants de retour au développement de leurs pays d'origine. Étude comparative entre les pays du Maghreb: l'Algérie, la Tunisie et le Maroc," Insaniyat , no. 69-70 (Juillet-Décembre 2015), pp. 83-110.
  50. Denis Drechsler & Jason Gagnon, "Les migrations, une source de développement à exploiter," Annuaire suisse de politique de développement , no. 27-2 (2008), p. 84, mise en ligne en 19/3/2010, accessed on 27/9/2020, at: https://bit.ly/3DKyh05
  51. Benhaddad & Hammouda, p. 95.
  52. Ducheny Marie, Andrea Rea & Maryse Tripier, "Sociologie de l'immigration (collection "Repères"), 2003," Les Annales de la recherche urbaine , no. 96 (2004), pp. 170-171. Source: L'Organisation internationale pour les migrations (OIM), "Projets de retour... Projets d'avenir," BROCHURE 31 mai 2016, p. 47, accessed on 21/6/2022, at: https://tunisia.iom.int/fr/search
  53. Organisation Internationale pour les Migrations, Aide au Retour Volontaire et à la Réintégration de Suisse en Tunisie (2015), accessed on 20/6/2022, at: https://bit.ly/3y5XwHR
  54. United Nations, International Organization for Migration, United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia, The State of International Migration Report 2019.
  55. General Population and Housing Census 2014."
  56. Hechmi Jelassi, Mohammed Ridha Ben Amor & Gabriella Sanchez, Les sources d'information et les leviers de motivation pour la migration régulière et irrégulière depuis La Tunisie , L'Observatoire national de la migration (ONM) et L'Organisation internationale pour les migrations (OIM) (Tunisie: 2020), accessed on 20/6/2022, at: https://bit.ly/3HCkFo7
  57. Chokri Arfa, "Aspects socio-économiques, mutations et enjeux des migrations en Tunisie , " in: Actes de la deuxième Ecole d'Eté sur la Migration , p. 45.
  58. United Nations, International Organization for Migration, United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia , State of International Migration Report 2019.
  59. Bouchoucha, Fourati & Zekri, p. 19.
  60. Ma Mung Emmanuel, "L'impact des transferts migratoires dans la ville de M'saken (Tunisie)," Revue européenne des migrations internationales , vol. 2, no. 1 (Septembre 1986).
  61. According to the TIDO 2011 study, of the funds transferred to families in their country of origin, only 4.4 percent are invested in economic enterprises. See: Bouchoucha, Fourati & Zekri.
  62. Mohamed Khachani, Dialogue Sur La Coopération Migratoire En Méditerranée Occidentale , document de synthèse, Association Marocaine d'Etudes et de Recherches sur les Migrations (Rabat, Maroc: 2002), pp. 7-8.
  63. A personal interview conducted in Ibn Khaldun neighbourhood of the Omrane Supérieur district on 10/1/2020 with B. A., a 45-year-old teacher who spent ten years in an Arab Gulf country.
  64. Bouchoucha, Fourati & Zekri, p. 18.
  65. Migration De Retour Et Réinsertion En Tunisie Enjeux, Potentiels Et Role De L'Accompagnement," Actes Du Séminaire, Tunis, 30-31/3/ 2017, L'Office français de l'immigration et de l'intégration (OFII), p. 16.
  66. In the area that was studied, nearly a third (31.9 percent) of the adults cited housing as a major reason for their decision to emigrate in 2014 (5,363 immigrants). See: "General Population and Housing Census 2014."
  67. This cautious behavior with respect to spending the financial returns of migration has been observed definitively among two particular groups: (1) retired immigrants, that is, those who have a pension sufficient to meet their basic needs, and who therefore direct most of their income into meeting their children's needs, securing adequate housing, and acquiring their own vehicle, and (2) young people who consider postponing their final return home as a justification for spending most of their income on improving the family's housing and living conditions and meeting its needs for health care, education, and housing.
  68. Bachir Hamdouch et al. Les Marocains résidant à l'étranger: Une enquête socio-économique (Rabat: Imprimerie El Maarif El Jadida, 2000).
  69. Republic of Tunisia, Ministry of Social Affairs, National Observatory for Migration, "International Migration in Numbers Based on the National Survey of International Migration in Tunisia," accessed on 20/6/2022, at: https://bit.ly/3n4M0pL
  70. Jean Pierre Cassarino, Migrants de Retour au Magreb, Réintegration et Enjeux de Développement, l'Union Européenne et l'Institut Universitaire Européen (Florence, Italie: 2007).
  71. Republic of Tunisia, Ministry of Economy, Finance and Investment Support , Economic Balance for the Year 2021 (October 2020), pp. 152-153.
Cover of العدد 12, Almuntaqa

التنزيلات

PDF (مستضاف) (الإنجليزية)
HTML (الإنجليزية)

منشور

2023-09-01

إحصاءات الاستخدام

45 مشاهدة 72 تنزيل

إصدار

مجلد 6 عدد 012 (2023): العدد 12

القسم

المقالات

الرخصة

الحقوق الفكرية (c) 2023 المنتقى

Creative Commons License

هذا العمل مرخص بموجب Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.