Migration and Transnationalism Between Switzerland and Bulgaria (eBook)

PD Dr. Marina Richter is a sociologist and geographer who is presently working at a department for sociology, social policy and social work and has since her graduate school in gender studies worked in various projects with people from different disciplines. She is an expert in migration to Switzerland and has mostly published on Spanish migration to Switzerland. She has conducted research on transnational aspects of migration such as networks and has in this realm also published on methodological aspects. Her research perspective on migration also includes aspects such as emotional attachment to place, gender differences as an example of social inequalities and in particular questions of deskilling. Her major publications include: Richter, Marina and Michael Nollert. 2014. Transnational networks and transcultural belonging: a study of the Spanish second generation in Switzerland. Global Networks. 2014(04), 458-176; Richter, Marina. 2012. Researching transnational social spaces: A qualitative study of the Spanish second generation in Switzerland [40 paragraphs]. Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung / Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 13(3), Art. 8; Richter, Marina. 2011. “A country full of snow”. Spanish migrants in Switzerland and their ways of engaging with places, memories, and personal migration history. Emotion, Space and Society. 4. 221-228; Richter, Marina. 2006. Integration, Identität, Differenz. Der Integrationsprozess aus der Sicht spanischer Migrantinnen und Migranten. Bern: Peter Lang.Dr. Paolo Ruspini is Senior Researcher at the Faculty of Communication Sciences of the University of Lugano (USI) since February 2008 and Honorary Research Fellow at the Department of Social Sciences, University of Roehampton, London. A political scientist, he has been researching issues of international and European migration and integration since 1997 with a comparative approach and by drawing on qualitative and policy analyses. The geographical focus of his research spans from Western to Central and South-Eastern Europe and cover also the post-Soviet migration space with emphasis on the dynamics and multimodal character of migration flows in a changing policy context. He has been working in many collaborative projects at national and European level and he is active in research networks regarding international migration and social cohesion as well as being advisor for national and international organizations. From October 2013 until May 2014 he was visiting professor at the Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, Institute of Law, Politics and Development (DIRPOLIS) in Pisa. He has also been Associate Fellow at the Centre for Research in Ethnic Relations (CRER) of the University of Warwick for ten years until the CRER closed in September 2011. In the year 2001, Paolo Ruspini received a Marie Curie post-doctoral fellowship for his project “Living on the Edge: Irregular Migrants in Europe” (2001-2002) and he also received a German Marshall Fund and other smaller grants for holding the position of principal investigator at CRER for the research project in collaboration with the Centre of Migration Research of Warsaw University, “In Search for a New Europe: Contrasting Migratory Experiences” (2001-2005). He was visiting scholar at the Mershon Center for Education, Ohio State University (1998) and worked for the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (1995-1996). He combines research activities with routine lectures in a number of universities and international institutions. Besides a significant number of papers on migration and contributions to international conferences, he is author of Migration in the New Europe: East-West Revisited (2004, Palgrave-Macmillan, co-editor), Prostitution and Human Trafficking: Focus on Clients, (2009, Springer, co-editor), South-Eastern Europe and the European Migration System. East-West Mobility in Flux, (2010, The Romanian Journal of European Studies, Special Issue, No.7-8/2009, guest editor) and A Decade of EU Enlargement: A Changing Framework and Patterns of Migration, (2014, Central and Eastern European Migration Review, Special Issue, Vol. 3, No. 2, December 2014, co-editor).Dr. Dotcho Mihailov is a survey researcher and a manager of the research agency “Agency for Socioeconomic Analyses” (ASA), which is partnering with the ERI on the Bulgarian side of the project “Migration and transnationalism between Switzerland and Bulgaria”. Holding a PhD in Social Psychology, Dr. Mihailov has coordinated and has contributed as a lead author to a number of policy reports for Bulgaria, addressing the issues of regional disparities and social inequality. Among them are the 2003 UNDP National Human Development Report “Rural Regions: Overcoming Development Disparities”, the UNDP 2002 National Human Development Index: “Municipalities in the Context of Districts" and the UN National Millennium Development Goals reports for Bulgaria for 2003 and 2008. During the last 15 years Dotcho Mihailov has been providing consultancies mainly in the fields of rural development and social inclusion for a number of development agencies such as the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, the UNDP, the World Bank and others. As an associate of Blackstone Corporation Resource Management Consultants, Canada he has carried out project evaluations and development consultancy missions in Eastern Europe, Africa, India and China. In terms of survey experience Dotcho Mihailov has coordinated more than 100 national and topical surveys, including two on migration in cooperation with Mintchev, Kalchev, Boshnakov and Zareva.Prof. Dr. Vesselin Mintchev  is an economist. His research background is in the field of corporate governance and international economics. He analysed, among others, the attitudes of potential migrants; effects of return migration and remittances in South East Europe (Mintchev, V. (2009), “International migration and remittances in the Balkans: the case of Bulgaria”, in E. Novotny, P. Mooslechner and D. Ritzberger-Grunwald (eds.), The Integration of European Labour Markets, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 177-204.)  He was interested by the interaction among family models and migration patterns (Mihailov, D., V. Mintchev, V. Bosnakov, and K. Nikolova (2007), Family models and migration, National Representative Survey, Sofia: Agency for Social and Economic Analysis and Center for Comparative Studies). He analysed the migration as factor of income inequality in Bulgaria (Mintchev V., V. Boshnakov and A. Naydenov (2010), “Source of Income Inequality: Empirical Evidence from Bulgaria”, Economic Studies, 4, 39-65) as well. More recently he was concentrated on the study of Bulgarian Diaspora in Spain, identifying the models of adaptation, the contacts with the home country, etc. He coordinated and participated in a number of research projects in the field mentioned above commissioned by different institutions such as UNFPA, Global Development Network, National Science Fund of Bulgaria.Prof. Dr. Michael Nollert is a sociologist and has worked extensively on social inequalities and social exclusion and the impact of policies on social stratification. He analysed economic inequalities in the world system, in Latin America, in intergenerational reproduction of social status (social mobility regimes), in the reproduction of economic elites. He also studied the influence of European umbrella associations in the decision making process of the EU, the transnational ties of big European companies and their impact on the Single European Act in the 1980s and the class formation of transnational elites. One of his recent research project analysed the regional varieties of gender inequalities in the Swiss labour market and the impact of policies on these inequalities (M. Nollert and S. Schief, Cantonal patterns of gender-specific time-inequalities in paid and unpaid work: Empirical results and political-institutional conclusions, in: B. Liebig et al. 2016, Gender Inequality in Context: Policies and Practices in Switzerland. Opladen: Barbara Budrich. His recent contributions to migration research stem from a broader project, where also Marina Richter was collaborating (Richter and Nollert 2014), and a current research project which focuses on the identities and attitudes of migrants which engage in Muslim organisations in Switzerland (M. Nollert and A. Sheikhzadegan 2016, Gesellschaften zwischen Multi- und Transkulturalität. Zürich: Seismo). His geographical focus is on Europe, Latin America, the Netherlands, Germany and Switzerland. Most of his studies are based on a comparative perspective.

Foreword 6
Acknowledgements 8
Contents 10
Abbreviations 12
Contributors 14
About the Editors 16
Chapter 1: An Introduction to Migration and Transnationalism Between Switzerland and Bulgaria 19
1.1 Concepts 22
1.1.1 Migrant Transnationalism 22
1.1.2 Migrant Transnationalism and Social Inequality 24
1.1.3 Regional Disparities and Migration 26
1.1.4 Changing Policies 27
1.2 Context of the Study 29
1.2.1 The Case of Bulgaria 29
1.2.2 Switzerland: A Receiving Country 30
1.3 Research Design and Methodology 32
1.3.1 Research Objectives and Instruments 32
1.3.2 Data Gathered 33
1.4 Organization of the Book 36
References 37
Chapter 2: Determinants of Migration and Types of Migration and Mobility 43
2.1 Introduction 43
2.2 Definitions and Methodology 47
2.2.1 Bulgarian Survey 48
2.2.2 Swiss Survey 50
2.3 Demographic Profiles, Aspirations and Capabilities 51
2.3.1 Potential Migrants in Bulgaria 51
2.3.2 People with Migration Experience: Bulgarian Return and Circular Migrants 54
2.3.3 Socio-Demographic Profile and Future Plans of Bulgarians in Switzerland 60
2.4 Determinants of the Aspirations to Move: A Logistic Regression Analysis 65
2.4.1 Potential Migrants vs. Potential Non-migrants 65
2.4.2 Circular Migrants vs. Returnees 69
2.4.3 Bulgarians in Switzerland 71
2.5 Conclusions 74
References 76
Chapter 3: Linking Social Inequalities and Migration 79
3.1 Introduction 79
3.2 Theoretical Remarks 80
3.3 Social Background Characteristics of the Migrants 83
3.4 Inequality as a Driver of Migration 84
3.5 Social Capital as a Resource for Migration 87
3.6 Experiences of Discrimination 88
3.7 Social Mobility Abroad and Back Home 91
3.8 Economic Improvement Abroad 96
3.9 Income Inequality Abroad and Back Home 97
3.10 Property Inequality Abroad 101
3.11 Remittances 103
3.12 Conclusions 104
References 105
Chapter 4: Assessing Regional Disparities in Bulgaria and Switzerland 108
4.1 Introduction 108
4.2 Methodological Framework 110
4.3 Regional Socio-Economic Disparities in Bulgaria 112
4.3.1 Demographic Conditions 113
4.3.2 Labour Market 114
4.3.3 Local Economy 114
4.3.4 Transport Infrastructure 114
4.3.5 Poverty and Household Incomes 114
4.3.6 Education and Healthcare 115
4.4 Regional Drivers for Migration in Bulgaria 116
4.4.1 Correlations with the Concentration of  Potential Migrants 117
4.4.2 Correlations with the Concentration of Return Migrants (Mobile Individuals) 119
4.5 Potential and Return Migrants in Bulgaria per District Ranking 120
4.5.1 Profile of Potential Migrants 120
4.5.2 Return Migrants 124
4.6 Regional Socio-Economic Disparities in Switzerland 125
4.7 Regional Drivers for Bulgarian Migration in Switzerland 127
4.8 Profiles of Bulgarians in Switzerland per  Canton Ranking 130
4.8.1 Demographic and Structural Characteristics 130
4.8.2 Capability Characteristics 131
4.8.3 Regional Inter-linkages 133
4.9 Conclusions 134
References 137
Chapter 5: The Impact of Policies on Migration Between Switzerland and Bulgaria 139
5.1 Introduction 139
5.2 Literature Overview 140
5.3 EU Migration Policy 142
5.4 Swiss Immigration Policy 144
5.5 Bulgarian Migration Policy 147
5.6 Bilateral Bulgarian-Swiss Relations 151
5.7 Impact of Migration Policies: Empirical Evidences 153
5.7.1 Bulgarian Potential Migrants 153
5.7.2 Bulgarian Migrants in Switzerland 155
5.8 Conclusions 164
References 166
Chapter 6: Social Networks and Transnational Migration Practices 168
6.1 Introduction 168
6.2 Networking Before Migrating 171
6.2.1 Overview of Bulgarian Migrants’ Networks 171
6.2.2 Networks of Current Migrants in Switzerland 175
6.3 Networking with Bulgaria 177
6.3.1 Migrants’ Ties with Bulgaria 177
6.3.2 The Case of Bulgarian Migrants in Switzerland 178
6.4 Networking with Bulgarians and the Local Community in the Host Country 180
6.4.1 Experiences of Bulgarian Migrants 180
6.4.2 The Case of Bulgarian Migrants in Switzerland 182
6.5 The Perspective of the People Left Behind in Bulgaria 183
6.6 Exchanging Goods and Remittances 185
6.6.1 Receiving and Sending Goods 185
6.6.2 Receiving and Sending Money: Remittances and Return Migrants 186
6.6.3 Receiving and Sending Money: Remittances and Migrants in Switzerland 187
6.7 Identity and Belonging Among Return and Potential Migrants 188
6.8 Conclusions 191
References 194
Chapter 7: Analysis and Conclusions: Research and Policy Challenges Ahead 196
7.1 Timing in Migration: Or Long-Term Versus Short-Term Migration 198
7.2 Stratified Patterns of Migration: Or About ‘Losers’ and ‘Winners’ 201
7.3 Reproduced Inequalities: And/Or Downgrading Social Capital 203
7.4 Migration Policies: And the Institutional vs. Personal Perspective 205
7.5 Final Thoughts 207
References 209
Index 211