Making the ‘Fifth Region’ a real place? Emigrant policies and the emigration-nation nexus in Ecuador

Abstract

Ecuadorian migration has emerged as a good case study on the pro-active orientations of sending countries toward expatriates, as an attempt to retain their allegiance, connectedness, and investments. Drawing on the discourses and policies of the Correa government in Ecuador, this paper aims to explore the effects of emigration on the national ‘self-understandings’ of sending countries and on their nation-building projects. Three theoretical questions are addressed: how do symbolic issues interact with more instrumental reasons in accounting for the political agendas of emigration countries? How do emigrant-addressed appeals affect the shifting boundaries of their national belonging? How do migrants react, if at all, to state-led representations and policies which build on their (supposedly) persistent loyalty to the homeland? While revisiting the Ecuadorian case, this article argues for domestic factors, nation-building agendas, and ‘banal nationalism’ to be factored into the literature on diasporas and emigration countries.