Editorial
| Date | 01 August 2017 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/imig.12364 |
| Published date | 01 August 2017 |
Editorial
In this issue of International Migration, we are happy to be introducing a new occasional feature,
the Policy Interview. Because International Migration is not only a peer-reviewed academic journal
but one with a mandate to inform policy audiences, we want to develop our role as bridge builders
between the research and policy sectors. An academic journal is bound to be rather one-sided in
representing the interests and ideas of scholars, most of whom are at the world’s universities. It is
extremely rare that policy officials submit manuscripts for academic peer review. But, wanting the
policy sector to be more visible on our pages, we have chosen to offer interviews of prominent
officials with responsibility for migration. Our first interview is with Canada’s Minister of Immigra-
tion, Refugees, and Citizenship, the Honourable Ahmed D. Hussen. Canada has long been in the
limelight for the way it manages and embraces immigration, most recently with regard to the arri-
val of refugees from Syria and its program of private refugee sponsorship. We hope that you find
our conversation with Minister Hussen of interest.
Also in this issue we have a special section, Cultivating the Migration-Food Security Nexus,
which has been Guest-Edited by Jonathan Crush and Mary Caesar. Special sections and special
issues are very time-consuming to put together, and we appreciate the efforts and patience of both
our Guest Editors and the authors of this section. As scholars examine ever more closely the rela-
tionship between migration and development, that of the relationship between migration and food
security is fast becoming a natural relative. The second of the United Nations Sustainable Develop-
ment Goals is to “End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition, and promote sustain-
able agriculture”. Interestingly, none of its targets and indicators refers to migration. We are happy
to address this lacuna in this special section.
We return to remittances in our next section but initially staying with food security, as Akcßay
and Karasoy describe the connections between remittances and calorie consumption in Algeria.
They confirm what we would all hope, that remittances positively influence calorie consumption,
but do so using analytical techniques that are in themselves of considerable interest. Dendir takes
us to Kenya and Ethiopia to explore how and whether remittance recipients save a portion of the
funds sent to them. More is saved in Kenya than in Ethiopia, but in both cases the amounts saved
are in proportion to the amounts received. Interestingly, in Ethiopia it is women who are the savers
while in Kenya it is the men. Researchers have long looked at the factors affecting remittance
behaviours, and Umair and Waheed look carefully at how economic conditions in both host and
homeland affect remittances, here with the host being Saudi Arabia and Pakistan the home.
Our section on variations on labour migration opens with a fascinating if not troubling account
of Fijians seeking employment in private military and security organizations. With the proliferation
of internal conflicts throughout much of the world, we have all read of private security firms pro-
tecting economic assets from conflict and of the establishment of private armies. But we hear little
of who serves in these private military and security companies, and Kanemasu and Molnar explain
for us that many are from the Global South. From Fiji we move to Italy and the large number of
their scientists who leave for employment in the science sector elsewhere in Europe. Sbalchiero
and Tuzzi examine this form of brain drain from Italy, looking specifically at why Italian scientists
leave for elsewhere in Europe. But the picture they paint is not entirely gloomy as in this brain
drain they see potential for the enhancement of Italy’s academic system. Those who migrate for
employment usually leave behind families who receive their remittances and other influences
Dr. Howard Duncan, Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
doi: 10.1111/imig.12364
©2017 The Author
International Migration ©2017 IOM
International Migration Vol. 55 (4) 2017
ISSN 0020-7985Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
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