Cape Verde: Rethinking Diaspora in Development Policy
| Author | João Resende‐Santos |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/imig.12212 |
| Published date | 01 April 2016 |
| Date | 01 April 2016 |
Cape Verde: Rethinking Diaspora in
Development Policy
Jo~
ao Resende-Santos*
ABSTRACT
In today’s global economy, small developing countries like Cape Verde have very few options
to spur growth and sustain long term socioeconomic development. Small size, poor resource
endowment, declining foreign aid, and decreasing opportunities in the world economy have
sharply reduced their options for growth and competitiveness. In response, Cape Verde and
other small states have been placing increasing focus on migration as a development resource.
For a country with a centuries long history of migration and a diaspora estimated to be twice
the size of the resident population, harnessing the diaspora is a viable option for Cape Verde.
But under what conditions is such an option effective? This article analyses the evolution of
the diaspora’s economic role, and assesses the conditions that enable or obstruct the diaspora’s
role as a development resource.
INTRODUCTION
Small developing countries like Cape Verde have very few options in today’s global economy to
spur growth and sustain long term socioeconomic development. Aside from their small size and
poor resource endowment, declining foreign aid, volatility in foreign direct investment and the rise
of big emerging markets have all sharply reduced their options for growth and competitiveness. In
response, Cape Verde and other small states have turned to migration as a development resource.
Harnessing the diaspora has become a priority in development policy, especially for African coun-
tries (Plaza and Ratha, 2011). Migration is no longer viewed as unconditionally harmful to devel-
opment. As it contemplates its new development strategy, Cape Verde is rethinking its diaspora’s
role. For a country whose history, society and economy have been intimately connected with
migration for centuries, and with a global diaspora population estimated to be twice the size of the
resident population, harnessing the diaspora can be a viable option. But under what conditions is
such an option effective?
In policy and research, the diaspora’s economic role is viewed narrowly as senders of mone-
tary remittances. Harnessing the diaspora’s economic contribution beyond monetary remittances
requires efforts and mechanisms, in the homeland and in the diaspora, that expand the scale as
well as the modes of the diaspora’s contribution. The potential roles, or modes, of the diaspora’s
contribution to homeland socioeconomic development are several (Patterson, 2006; Brinkerhoff,
2012). Mobilizing this full potential requires, first, enabling institutional, or macro, conditions
and, second, an effective mix of policy and organizational, or micro level, factors. Moreover,
mobilizing the diaspora’s full contribution is a two-way street. It requires enabling the conditions
and efforts of both sides. More than most African countries, Cape Verde and its diaspora have
*Bentley University, Waltham, MA
doi: 10.1111/imig.12212
©2015 The Author
International Migration ©2015 IOM
International Migration Vol. 54 (2) 2016
ISS N 00 20- 7985 Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
made considerable progress. Its success, however, is partial. Organizational deficits in the dias-
pora and the homeland, in addition to policy gaps, continue to hamper the diaspora’s full contri-
bution.
Although the Cape Verdean diaspora’s contribution to homeland development has been vital
historically, rethinking the diaspora’s role is urgent and timely for Cape Verde. The West Afri-
can country is in the middle of a transition from Least Developed Country (LDC) to middle
income status –having emerged as a development success story since independence in 1975. Its
graduation as an LDC, however, means that development becomes more difficult, not easier.
Two of its major sources of external financing for the economy –donor assistance and mone-
tary remittances –are in long-term decline. Opportunities for emigration are closing as host
countries adopt anti-immigration policies. Cape Verde and other microstates in the Pacific and
Caribbean are heavily dependent on migration and foreign aid, but these flows are increasingly
unreliable as sources of growth and poverty alleviation. Despite these trends, many of these
countries retain sizeable populations of migrants and their descendants abroad. Paradoxically,
Cape Verde will become more, not less, dependent on migration as a development resource. As
a micro island state in the world economy, it has even fewer development options to generate
growth, employment, and improve living standards for its resident population. As Cape Verde
moves into its next phase of development, it will have to rely much more on its diaspora as a
source of external financing, direct investments, consumer market, tourism demand, and knowl-
edge transfer.
This study analyses the evolution of the diaspora’s economic role in Cape Verde’s development,
including its standing in development policy. It is divided into four main sections. The first section
situates Cape Verde in the context of migration and development. The second section examines the
diaspora’s historical role and economic contribution. The third section examines the enabling and
policy conditions. The last section considers the challenges and limitations of deepening and
expanding the diaspora’s role.
This is a study on the political economy of migration and development. Most scholarly works
on the Cape Verdean diaspora have focused on questions of transnational identity and social for-
mation, the historical evolution of migration, culture and immigrant integration, and other ethno-
graphic subjects (Halter, 1993; Challinor, 2008; Batalha and Carling, 2008; Carling and
Akensson, 2009; Cardoso, 2004). Very few have focused on political economy questions (Bour-
det and Falck, 2006; Rocha, Tolentino and Tolentino, 2008). Research in various fields supports
the idea that transnational social-cultural and ideational factors can have an indirect impact on
development. Indeed, given the country’s own broad definition of diaspora, one that includes all
emigrants and their descendants, this transnational identity formation is an even more critical
dimension to mobilizing the diaspora’s economic participation. Important as these issues may be,
they are bracketed in order to examine the direct economic contribution and role of policy. In
similar fashion, debates over definitions of diaspora are common (Dufoix, 2011). Diaspora is lib-
erally and broadly defined here as all Cape Verdeans and their descendants living abroad perma-
nently or temporarily, independent of place of birth or nationality, and sharing a common
identity and ties to the homeland. This is the definition used by the government, and it is given
constitutional expression. From a policy analysis standpoint, it makes sense to adopt this broad
definition. Research has shown, however, that permanent and temporary migrants differ in their
economic behaviour, especially in financial remittances but presumably also in investment, emi-
grant savings deposit, tourism demand, knowledge remittances, etc. Differing legal status may
further condition their economic participation. On the other hand, the potential modes of diaspora
contribution vary widely, as explained below, allowing different segments to participate in their
own way. Dual citizenship, enfranchisement, and the strong material ties retained by permanent
emigrants, directly or through inheritance, provide additional grounds for a liberal definition and
the country’s policy approach.
Cape Verde: Rethinking Diaspora in Development Policy 83
©2015 The Author. International Migration ©2015 IOM
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