Return Migration: A Pattern of Policy Transfer or a Domestic Approach?

Abstract

Migration phenomenon is a complex, cross-country, emerging issues and more often the decision-makers are challenged in terms of public policies. Therefore, in their attempt to find better or the best solutions to public policies problems, including migration, policy makers look to their neighbours for policy transfer. The context of international cooperation on emerging issues fosters the spread of ideas, models and practices of policies, and the last decades emphasised that policies fostering and promoting return and integration have been a common subject of governments. Still, the evolution of return has been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and travel restrictions come into force in all countries. Therefore the attention of this paper is not on the effects of COVID-19 on migration policies, but on migration policies measures, especially those targeting return migration in “common” time.

In this sense, the analysis is focus on return migration policies as one side of migration cycle and on the other hand tries to find an answer to “Does these policies follow a pattern of policy transfer?” The main objectives are to identify and study several policies initiatives and to see in what extend they are made based on policy transfer approach.

From methodological standpoint, the analysis is conducted in terms of comparative perspective based on deep - document analysis.