Theory Of Return Migration

Return migration has been studied by various disciplines such as economics, anthropology, geography, and psychology. However, it remains an under - researched field (Cassarino 2004; Kunuroglu, van de Vijver, and Yagmur 2016). In migration discourse and literature, return migration has been perceived as a secondary phenomenon, negligible in terms of number compared to the outgoing migration, less challenging, and more of a natural reestablishment at the home country. However, there is actually a significant number of returning migrants, and their circumstances could be temporary or a new beginning, making the situation just as challenging as the outgoing migration (IOM 2008).
The definition of return migration also varies among scholars
The neoclassical model has a nonoptimistic approach, blaming the failure of migrants in the labor market or their inability to earn money as the main reasons for return. In the New Labor Economics model, return represents a logical continuation of a well-planned migration. However, the author argue that these first two models do not take into consideration the personal motivation of migrants, which are not necessarily connected to economic welfare, but rather to other social, economic, or political factors in the countries of origin and destination (Cassarino 2004; Cerase 1974). The structural model examines return by considering the personal factors of the returnee, as well social and institutional ones in the country of origin. The transnationalism model elaborates that return is a part of a circulating system of social and economic relations as well as transactions of the migrant in the origin country, which ease the process of return. Finally, the theorists of social networks perceive returnees as individuals who keep long-term contacts with their origin countries but are not necessarily dependent on the existence of social networks (see also King and Christou
Such divergent perspectives hamper coherent policies between states. The reintegration of return migrants is overlooked by many countries of origin when they face weak economies and labor markets. Reintegration policies and individual reintegration processes greatly depend on the overall economic, political, and social circumstances of the country of origin. Services such as counseling require corresponding institutional capacities and resources that often are lacking in developing countries (Haase and Honerath