The Socio-economic Contribution of African Migrants to their Home and Host Countries: The Case of Ghanaian Residents in Flanders, Belgium

The issue of South?CNorth migration, especially Africa?CEuropean Union (EU) migration, has moved to the center stage of international development debate. Unfortunately, however, interests and arguments by policy-makers, development agencies, and citizens of the EU mainly focus on the consequences of migration on the ??receiving?? societies. The real causes of migration from Africa and migrants?? contribution to the social and economic development of both the ??sending?? and ??receiving?? countries have not been objectively discussed. Provision of labor to EU member countries, remittances, and financial transfers to and investments made by African migrants in their respective home countries are essential elements in the African?CEU migration and development cooperation debate. It is estimated that South?CNorth migrants?? remittances to developing countries increased from US$2 billion in 1970 to US$71 billion in 2001. Moreover, financial flows emanating from African migrants in the developed countries significantly contribute to the development of the continent. In order to concretize and objectify the discussion, a socio-economic survey was conducted on a representative sample of Ghanaian migrants and their families in the Flemish Community in Belgium. Extensive literature review on migration, administration of questionnaires to Ghanaians resident in Flanders, Belgium, and consultations with African and international experts on migration and international development cooperation were the methods used for this investigation. The paper identifies and analyzes the factors that ??push?? and ??pull?? Ghanaians to migrate to Belgium, the EU, and the developed countries in general. The socio-economic situation of Ghanaian migrants in Flanders and their contribution to the sustainable development of Belgium, the EU, and Ghana are rigorously analyzed. Furthermore, the challenges posed by South?CNorth migration are identified and appropriate and effective win-win mitigation strategies proposed for redressing the problematic in a sustainable way.     

Exploring the Migration Intentions of Ghanaian Youth: A Qualitative Study

Migration is a multidimensional phenomenon with both positive and negative effects. However, the extent to which migration positively or adversely affects the life opportunities of people, especially the youth abroad, is partly influenced by the aspirations and expectations of the migrants prior to embarking on their journeys. Drawing on macro-, meso-, and micro- level migration theories, this qualitative study explored the intentions for out-migration among final-year university students in Ghana. Thirty-four students (16 males and 18 females) were purposively recruited as participants for the study. Each person participated in one of four digitally recorded focus group discussions. The data was analyzed to identify emerging themes that addressed the objectives of the study. Participants were final-year undergraduate and graduate university students, and their ages ranged between 22 and 34 years. Analysis of the data revealed that participants were eager and determined to leave Ghana, in order to seek better lives abroad. Improved standard of living, employment opportunities, and the prospects for further education featured prominently in participants’ discourses about intended migration. Additionally, the findings indicated that participants’ intentions to migrate were based on comparison between constraints in Ghana and opportunities abroad. The findings of the study draw attention to the need for research and policies that consider the aspirations, interests, and voices of youth who desire to migrate abroad.     

Involuntary Return Migration and Reintegration. The Case of Ghanaian Migrant Workers from Libya

This paper presents findings from a study that investigated the experiences of the returning Ghanaian migrants from Libya during the Arab Spring of 2011. The study used qualitative methods to explore involuntary return and reintegration of migrants in a south–south migration framework. Information from semi-structured interviews of migrants from selected communities in Ghana in addition to data from the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) were used. The objective of the study was to find out the major difficulties returnees faced in reintegrating into their societies of origin as a result of their hasty departure and to assert the factors that may influence reintegration. The study finds that the combination factors including of high levels of family dependence on returnees, weak governance and the absence of reintegration policies may foster re-emigration.     

The Perception of Myanmar Development on its Return Migrants: Implications for Burmese Migrants in Thailand

Recent development in Myanmar has created stronger pull factors on emigrant Burmese workers to return to their motherland. Using a survey of 433 Burmese migrants in Thailand as a case study, this paper examines the impact of Myanmar’s development on the probability of the return of Burmese migrants to Myanmar from Thailand. Development factors such as more foreign direct investment, deregulation, and improvement of public services will encourage Burmese migrant workers to return home. Additionally, in terms of economic development, better job opportunities and political stability are also major pull factors for return migration. The main policy implication of these findings is that the chances that Burmese migrant workers will return home are high if investment opportunities followed by job availability and adequate wages can be found in Myanmar. Myanmar and Thailand should implement education programs set up by the Thai government and facilitate Burmese migrants’ children’s access to these programs as well as protecting migrants’ rights during the period of structural adjustment in Thailand.     

Return Imaginaries and Political Climate: Comparing Thinking About Return Mobilities Among Pakistani Origin Migrants and Descendants in Norway and the UK

The political climate on immigration and diversity in various European societies has previously been analysed in relation to media representations, policy regimes and public opinion. This paper focuses more narrowly on how political climates affect migrant and post-migrant generations, as inhabitants of these European societies. We focus on the impact of ambivalence resulting from perceived lack of recognition as full citizens in European societies among migrants and their descendants. Ambivalence in relation to experiences of particular traits of the political climate is further connected with ideas about mobility—how migrants and descendants may think about return migration—what we discuss in terms of ‘return imaginaries’. Culture, ideology and representations are seen as significant for contemporary politics, not only with expressive but also with formative roles. With this perspective, the analysis explores three politically heated areas of debate: about immigration control, about social cohesion and integration agendas and about terrorist attacks. These three areas were inductively selected, drawing on analysis of qualitative data collected among Pakistani origin migrants and descendants in Norway and the UK. The two countries of residence are purposefully chosen because they in different ways reflect political climates affected by the rise of xenophobia and Islamophobia in Europe.     

Health Beliefs and Intentions: Predictors of Return Compliance in a Tuberculosis Detection Drive1

A prospective design was employed to study the ability of various factors to predict return compliance in a tuberculosis detection drive. Five hundred fiftythree participants in the drive were asked to complete a questionnaire tapping their views of TB (based on the Health Belief Model) and their intentions to return for the recommended skin test reading. Behavioral intention was found to be an important predictor of return rates, and the inclusion of the HBM variables aided in the classification noncompliers. Practical and theoretical implications of these findings are discussed.     

Well-Being and Social Justice Among Moroccan Migrants in Southern Spain

The decision to migrate is normally based on expectations of improving one’s actual living conditions and therefore, one’s well-being. However, these expectations are not usually met in receiving contexts that relegate newcomers to lower power positions. From a liberating community psychology approach, this study aims to develop a predictive model of the well-being of Moroccan migrants living in southern Spain. Data were collected from a survey sample of 633 migrants (the average age was 31.9 years and 51.8 % were women) from 20 territorial units of Andalusia. Through a process of multilevel regression analysis, this study reveals that the well-being of the Moroccan community is closely determined by the following: (a) the level of social justice in the receiving context (openness to diversity of receiving communities, cultural sensitivity of community services, and residential integration); and (b) the individual strengths of the population (use of active coping strategies, satisfaction with the receiving context, and temporal stability in the new environment). These results empirically support the impact that different ecological levels of analysis have on well-being. Major theoretical contributions of the model and useful suggestions for improving migrant well-being are discussed.     

Religion and local politics in Southern Europe: a research agenda

This article brings to a conclusion the series of three special sections published in 2015 and 2016 by Religion, State and Society on ‘Religion and local politics in southern Europe’. We set up a research agenda on the interactions between religion and local politics in Southern Europe. In doing so, we focus on the localisation of religion, including religious debates, and on the impact of the recent economic crisis. More specifically, we address the local as a contested concept, the multilevel governance of religion as a scalar opportunity structure – in relation to the transnational dimension of religious actors – the effects of such changes in the welfare landscape and the impact of the economic crisis on the activities and strategies of religious actors in Southern Europe. Our research agenda focuses on the interactions between two main dimensions: the territorial impact of political and economic changes, and the multiscalar schemes of territorial governance.     

Values of Children among Sub-Saharan African Women: The Case of Ghanaian Women

This paper examines whether previously suggested reasons for having children: economic, social and psychological values of child can be identified among a group of sub-Sahara women, and the extent to which a spiritual value of child can be identified on the basis of African's belief in ancestors and its influence on their daily lives. Two groups of Ghanaian mothers—270 women (mean age = 42.14 years) with adolescent-aged child and 264 mothers (mean age =31.41 years) with a young child—participated in the study. Exploratory factor analyses found mixed support for the existence of social and psychological values of child. Economic values of child could not be identified. However, spiritual values of child came out as a clear factor, and accounted for about 10% of the explained variance, albeit the explained valiance was less than that from social and psychological values of child. The implications of these for family planning in sub-Sahara Africa and for fighting HIV/AIDS are discussed.     

Coach Expectations and Athlete Lay Beliefs: Interactions When Predicting Adolescent Athletes’ Enjoyment and Intentions to Return

The purpose of this study was to explore how athlete lay beliefs and coach expectations for athletes’ capacity to change interact when predicting enjoyment and intentions to continue in sport. Athletes (N = 202) and their 19 coaches completed surveys. Athletes with strong incremental (i.e., growth) mind-sets reported more enjoyment from affiliation and expending effort. Athletes with strong entity (i.e., fixed) mind-sets reported lower enjoyment from self-improvement, affiliation, and excitement. Regarding interactions, although athletes reported lower intentions and self-improvement enjoyment when a coach believed they had little likelihood of developing, these associations were attenuated for athletes with strong incremental mind-sets.     

How to Improve Athletes' Return of Investment: Shortening Questionnaires in the Applied Sport Psychology Setting

In counseling settings we need short and understandable, as well as valid and reliable, questionnaires. However, test construction focuses primarily on the latter, resulting in rather long tests and athletes' perception of low return on time investment. We address this problem by explaining how questionnaires can be shortened (i.e., using three selection criteria) and validated (e.g., by calculating interitem correlations). As an example we shortened the Thought Occurrence Questionnaire Sport from 17 to three items. We argue why this short version still satisfies quality criteria and why such short(ened) questionnaires should be more appreciated (e.g., by publishing and using them in counseling settings).     

Onset and Offset Deservingness: The Case of Home Foreclosures

An examination of the debate surrounding foreclosure assistance suggests that arguments vary in the extent that they suggest people facing foreclosure deserve assistance and whether the cause of the foreclosure is at the onset or offset of the foreclosure situation. Results from an experiment using a nationally representative sample suggest that people use the attributional evidence provided by onset‐ and offset‐deservingness scenarios to determine their support for governmental and personal foreclosure assistance. Consistent with attribution theory, path analysis suggested that attributions of controllability and the associated emotions of anger and sympathy mediated the relationship between deservingness arguments and support for foreclosure assistance. Additionally, people who endorse conservatism were more likely to oppose foreclosure assistance. Ideological differences in perceived controllability, anger, and sympathy mediated the relationship between ideology and personal assistance and partially mediated the relationship between ideology and government assistance.     

Immigration and femininity in Southern Europe: A gender‐based psychosocial analysis

Despite the growing presence of female immigrants in Western countries, research on the subject highlights two important biases that hinder appropriate explanation of the migratory phenomenon and hence prevent adequate intervention. First, most of the research studies conducted so far focus on male migration; second, the macro‐social perspective has prevailed in these areas of study since socio‐economic and political aspects have taken centre stage in analyses on migratory phenomena, From a gender‐based psychosocial perspective, this study addresses the migration project of 53 women from different South American countries, the Maghreb region and Eastern Europe now living in Southern Spain. For this purpose we conducted 23 in‐depth interviews, and staged six discussion groups with the aim of elucidating to what extent gender‐based psychosocial beliefs—stereotypes, ideology and identity—determine women's migration process. Our results suggest that the main stages in the process—deciding to emigrate, itinerary for social and labour integration in the host country, and general assessment of the migration experience—are strongly influenced by psychosociological constructs which arise as a result of female gender‐typing or female profile. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Social Customs and Demographic Change: The Case of Godparenthood in Catholic Europe

This article analyzes social norms regulating the selection of godparents in Italy and France. Based on Vatican statistics and European Values Study responses, the vast majority of children in Catholic Europe are baptized and birth rituals are considered important even by nonbelievers. Moreover, the dominant custom of selecting godparents from among kinsmen is a recent development, based on historical data. A new survey about the selection of godparents in Italy and France, conducted for this study, shows that godparents are chosen not for religious, but for social‐relational reasons. Selection of kinsmen is the norm, with uncles and aunts being the majority choice. For Italy, choice determinants are explored by means of multinomial regressions. The results are contrasted with demographic change to show that in lowest‐low fertility countries current godparenthood models are bound to disappear.     

Drifting Here and There But Going Nowhere: the Case of Migrants from Turkey in Milan in the Era of Global Economic Crisis

This paper argues that migration is becoming a protracted situation for the significant part of migrants in parallel to the deepening world economic crisis. Migrants keep drifting from one place to another in the face of future uncertainties. The paper analyses the protracted feature of migration, which is becoming increasingly salient through a new conceptualization, and links it with the world economic crisis and capital accumulation processes. The argument is supported by the data obtained from a field research implemented in Milan, Italy, in 2013 on migrants from Turkey. The Italian economy went into deep recession in 2009 when it was overlapped by a worldwide economic crisis. This situation led migrant workers to lose their jobs. Hence, self-employment of some Turkish migrants was directly related to the deepening economic crisis. Not only comparatively new Turkish migrants but also migrants who spent some years in Milan cannot see a secure future in there and think of migrating yet again.     

Comparative epidemiologic analysis of multiple sclerosis in areas of Central and Southern Europe

Epidemiological data concerning multiple sclerosis (MS) and collected by roughly the same methods in the regions of Rostock (GDR) and Schumadija-Pomoravlje (Yugoslavia) are presented. In both regions the females were earlier and more frequently attacked than the males; possible genetic, etiopathogenetic and other factors are discussed. The age at which the disease becomes manifest is about the same in both regions and was 30.9 and 30.8 years respectively. A prevalence of 60.4 and an incidence of 2.9 per 100 000 inhabitants were calculated for the Rostock region. The corresponding data for the Yugoslavian region were 20.3 (prevalence) and 0.89 (incidence). The disease is more common among the urban than among the rural population in Yugoslavia; the comparison of mortality due to MS revealed no appreciable differences.