Transforming brain drain into capital gain: Morocco's changing relationship with migration and remittances

The Historical and Social-Cultural Context of Acculturation of Moroccan-Dutch

“…Both factors have an enormous impact on the outcomes of the second and third generation but are hardly changeable. Notably, the first and second generations Moroccan-Dutch faced -like other Muslim migrants from North Africa such as Tunisia -many contradictions and conflicts between preserving the own ethnic (MoroccanIslamic) culture or adapting to the modern life style in the West (e.g., Leichtman, 2002). It is argued that this struggle, which was started by migration, changed the traditional family structure because the head of household was absent (see also Sadiqi & Ennaji, 2004).…”

“…Moroccans went abroad due to the bad socioeconomic situation in Morocco as well as a lack of resources in poorly developed rural areas and their marginalized position. Hundreds of thousands of Moroccans migrated to France, (French) Algeria and also within Morocco to urban areas (Leichtman, 2002). Later on they moved to other part parts of the world, mainly Europe (Berriane et al, 2015).…”

“…The majority of Berbers who migrated to the Netherlands more than four decades ago came from the city of Nador or surroundings and some Sous Berbers from Agadir, south of Morocco (Leichtman, 2002). Moroccans went abroad due to the bad socioeconomic situation in Morocco as well as a lack of resources in poorly developed rural areas and their marginalized position.…”

“…Moroccan authorities feared that the successful participation of Moroccan migrants in their host countries could lead to political unrest in Morocco when they brought new political ideas back to Morocco (Kreienbrink, 2005). King Hassan II wanted Moroccans living abroad to remain Moroccans and to fulfill the role of ambassadors (Leichtman, 2002). He was against dual citizenship and foreigners' right to vote at the communal level (Kreienbrink, 2005).…”

Remittances in crisis: Is Moroccan development at risk?

“…With regard to investment, whether the use of remittances is intended for the creation of small enterprises (Leichtman, 2002) or productive investment limited to the family (Lacomba, 2005), these strategies tend to lower or stall them in the period of declining remittances, threatening business that have been created thanks to the arrival of remittances and still depend to some extent on them. The decision to investment need a family context in harmony and concord that, in times of crisis is difficult to maintain; some newspaper articles that show the situation of immigrants in unemployment, confirms that the explanations of the recession are not understood by their families, and laziness or lack of know-how are considered the only reasons for not to take the opportunity to live abroad.…”