ABSTRACT

There is a certain tendency to portray migration as the antithesis of development both in its causes and consequences. The dominant narratives in most policy and some academic circles tend to be based not only on the assumption that migration is at an all-time high, but also that migration is a threat to social cohesion, economic growth and even security. In particular south-north migration tends to be seen as a problematic phenomenon caused by poverty and a general lack of development (which, it is believed, makes people move) in the countries and regions of origin and as a potential threat to development in both the sending (e.g., the brain drain) and receiving societies. Rather than migration and development, it often seems there can be only development or migration.