Acquiring ‘voice’ through ‘exit’: how Moroccan emigrants became a driving force of political and socio-economic change

Embracing complexity in ‘Southern’ migration governance

“…Finally, migrants themselves have 'stakes' in migration policy, but varying levels of access to shape governance. While in some cases, they have a powerful voice through their economic and political influence in remittance-dependent states (such as Morocco; Sahraoui, 2015), in other cases they are subject to the framings by both host states and international actors, as Gatter (2021, in this issue) shows in the case of Syrian refugees in Jordan.…”

The migration and development nexus in Morocco: an embedded study of French, German and Dutch returnee entrepreneurship support

“…Depending on the political climate in Morocco, these MRE are allowed electoral participation, they receive voting rights and are allowed a real 'voice' in their home country (Sahraoui, 2015). ( 2) The explicit economic inclusion of nationals living abroad by understanding the potential of their contributions to Moroccan economic development.…”

“…In the 1960s, governments assumed that the guestworkers would only stay in host countries for a limited period of time and then return home (Sahraoui, 2015). In the decades after their arrival, in fragmented Dutch society, Moroccans lived quite isolated lives in their own cultural and social communities.…”

“…The permanence of the Moroccan migration to The Netherlands started to be progressively recognizedas a negative development. Policies formulated in the 1990s and 2000s helped to progressively restrict the Moroccan migrants' migratory movements (Sahraoui, 2015). When family reunions were restricted in 1990, the social atmosphere underwent some drastic changes.…”

Incoherent at Heart: The EU’s economic and migration policies towards North Africa

“…26 These regions were both economically deprived and a source of continuous political tension, leading many observers to suggest that the Moroccan state explicitly furthered emigration from them as a 'security valve' to ease the economic and political pressure that was building up among their population. 27 While much regular Moroccan migration happens through family reunification and migration of high-skilled workers from service industries (such as IT, finance and engineering), its labour-focused nature still persists among new migrants. According to the Haut Commissariat au Plan 2018-2019 International Migration National Survey, 28 more than half of today's migrants (53.3%) have emigrated for economic reasons, primarily employment and improved working conditions (47.4%).…”