Sending State Research Articles

From nation to profession: Israeli state strategy toward highly-skilled return migration, 1949–2012

Recent evidence suggests that states in countries of origin deploy various policies geared toward their highly-skilled migrants. Drawing on a critical analysis of primary and secondary historical sources, this paper examines Israel's ‘sending state’ strategy, making two parallel arguments. First, that a two-pronged approach, termed ‘maintain/return’, has been adopted by the state as a way to secure ties with – and ultimately return – (highly-skilled) migrants. Secondly, that the justifications for encouraging and supporting return have changed considerably over time. While early efforts were rationalized by the need to repatriate migrants in the name of strengthening the nation, emphasizing as such the geopolitical fragility of the young state and expatriates' weakening ethno-national identity, more recent initiatives have utilized a trajectory of meritocracy that highlights returnees' potential economic contribution (individual), professional satisfaction as well as middle class, family-oriented considerations of ‘quality of life’. The paper suggests that these historical changes should be seen against the backdrop of the global race for talent and developments in the understanding of the role of migrants as extra-territorial citizens. The paper contributes to the burgeoning literature on state-migrants' relations, highlighting return as a key, albeit one, tool within sending state strategies.

Stopping the legal flow of weapons

This article examines sending state compliance with arms embargoes. Arms embargoes are one of the most frequently used types of economic sanctions but they are perceived as one of the least effective. One major problem with arms embargoes, many argue, is sending states’ failure to implement them. Yet studies tend to focus on cases of arms embargo violations, not compliance in the context of arms export practice more broadly. Using a series of new arms embargo variables, I conduct a statistical analysis of the relationship between arms embargoes and small and major conventional arms transfers from 1981 to 2004. Contrary to popular expectations, I find that arms embargoes on average restrain sending states’ arms exports. If arms embargoes do indeed have difficulty changing targets’ behavior, or achieving other measures of ‘success’, additional explanations must also be considered. I suggest that arms embargo target selection and the intractable challenge of cutting off illicit arms flows are two important plausible alternatives. This finding also provides optimism for compliance with international commitments in the absence of institutionalized enforcement mechanisms. Major exporters overall appear to implement sanctions, despite strong economic incentives to ignore them and a lack of formal accountability mechanisms to punish violators.

The evolving nature and role of the diplomatic mission

This article seeks to chart how the role of the diplomatic mission (most often thought of as the embassy) has evolved, primarily since the Second World War, to assess how it can be most useful to the sending state or institution, and to identify some of the characteristics of successful envoys, on the latter score drawing on several interviews. The occasional footnote refers to some personal experience and observations.

Shared Responsibility in International Criminal Justice: The ICC and Asylum

As a tribute to Bert Swart's academic career, this article explores the shared responsibility of states and the International Criminal Court (ICC) for witnesses who have testified at the ICC and have raised concerns for their well-being and safety in case of return to the sending state. The new phenomenon of ICC witnesses — more specifically, witnesses detained in the ICC detention centre — who have applied for asylum in the host state, raises the question of allocation of responsibility and jurisdiction between the ICC and the host state. It will be argued that without an ICC ‘territory’ it is only natural that ICC states parties, especially the host state, should perform those tasks of the ICC for which a territory is needed. This position is confirmed by the Dutch national asylum court, which ruled that ICC witnesses can apply for asylum in the Netherlands, in the same way as any other foreigner present on Dutch territory.

Uncertain Rest: The Nebulous Legal Status of Overseas Military Cemeteries

The image of a cemetery, particularly a military cemetery, conjures up many thoughts and emotions, ranging from honor and dignity of place to personal and national loss to essentially sacred concepts of the sanctity of the burial spot. Underneath these thoughts and emotions, however, is the much more practical consideration that these sacred areas of territory are just that, territorial areas to which property and other law applies. Indeed, whether at home or overseas, without a governing legal regime these areas, as sacred as they are, would not exist. The issue of law surrounding the territorial spaces of military cemeteries – including access to them, their upkeep and the memorial practices that take place inside them – is particularly important in the context of overseas military cemeteries, which were created after several wars and in a variety of political situations. Although these cemeteries were typically constructed decades ago, the law surrounding them and their overall legal and practical existence is becoming increasingly important as political changes in some states have resulted in the targeting of these cemeteries for vandalism and desecration, while in other states issues of urban planning and cemetery location have occurred since the creation of the cemetery. Even without these threats, the laws governing overseas military cemeteries are important for the legal construction of the spaces they occupy in the minds of the “sending state” – the state whose troops were lost overseas – and in the “host state” – the state in which the cemetery is located. This article addresses these issues by examining the overseas military cemetery practices of several states for legal trends and inconsistencies, namely the United States and the United Kingdom. These states were selected because they represent the majority of overseas military cemeteries that are currently in use throughout the world, however agreements between other sending states, such as France, and host states are included in analysis where relevant. The article examines the growth of overseas military cemeteries as an acceptable method of honoring fallen soldiers and provides an overview of the extent to which overseas military cemeteries exist and are used today. It discusses the various legal agreements used to establish overseas military cemeteries and the importance of the inclusion and omission of certain key legal ideas, such as the grant of the land used for overseas military cemeteries to the sending state in perpetuity to the construction of overseas military cemeteries as legal entities. The article highlights the essential uncertainties of legal status that exist as a result of the inconsistencies in these terms and argues that the generally nebulous nature of the legal status of overseas military cemeteries has created a grey area of law that will become increasingly important as political instability and land development issues call into question the perpetual sanctity of these cemeteries. The article concludes that the issue of legal status of overseas military cemeteries has been overlooked for a very long time and yet should be reassessed in order to ensure the protection of the sites now and in the future.

The Responsibility of Sending States for Human Rights Violations during Peace Support Operations and the Issue of Detention

The Responsibility of Sending States for Human Rights Violations during Peace Support Operations and the Issue of Detention

Border-Crossing Stories and Masculinities

In 2008, sociologist M. Cristina Morales and I visited Hidalgo, Mexico, the sending state of many of the workers in residential construction in Las Vegas, Nevada. This trip and the interviews we conducted were part of a larger project involving over 100 male and female workers who discussed with us their work conditions, their migration patterns, and their involvement in organizing or grievance efforts in the U.S. workplaces (Saucedo and Morales 2010). In Hidalgo, Mexico, we interviewed 32 male migrants who had worked in the United States and who had returned to their hometowns. Among the topics of conversation with these workers were discussions about their own migration and border crossing stories. By focusing on their border crossing stories, this chapter explores the behavioral responses of border crossing migrants between the United States and Mexico to restrictive immigration measures and to economic and social conditions. The stories explain the migration pattern and the reasons for it, and correspondingly, the reasons that individual immigrants journey across the border.

Immigrant Integration vs. Transnational Ties?: The Role of the Sending State

Recent work on transnationalism provides evidence to support the argument that transnational ties to the home country and integration into the host state are not mutually exclusive processes (Levitt and Glick-Schiller, 2004). Moreover, connections to the home country attenuate over time and by the third generation immigrants are usually fully integrated into the receiving country. Given that some of the existing transnational ties are encouraged and facilitated by the home country, critics of sending states' diaspora engagement activities argue that their promotion of ongoing transborder connections limits immigrants' integration into the host state. The case of Mexico shows that there are stated and unstated objectives in the state's diaspora engagement policies, including the promotion of the government's political and economic interests, the need to maintain its legitimacy at home and abroad, and the interest in facilitating and securing remittance flows. But since the 1990s the programs developed by the Mexican government directed to migrants in the U.S. also seek to improve their living conditions in the host country. An issue that requires further exploration and is addressed in this paper is whether and how the services that Mexico provides to emigrants through its 50 consulates and the Institute of Mexicans Abroad (IME) contribute to or limit migrants' process of integration in the United States. Such services include, among others, preventive health care and medical referrals, adult education programs, and leadership development. This paper examines the effects of the Mexican government's programs on the integration of Mexican immigrants based on interviews in various U.S. cities. It also examines the response in the U.S. to the Mexican government's active role in this regard.

Why Human Rights Fail to Protect Undocumented Migrants

In this article, I depart from the factual difficulties of undocumented migrants to access a state’s protection mechanisms for avowedly universal human rights. I relate this aporia to two competing conceptions of territorial jurisdictions. Drawing on the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Migrant Workers Convention, I separate the sphere of the political community (the polis) and that of the household (the oikos) in developing a political theory of undocumented migration. It rests on two central tenets: one is a tributary transaction between sending state and host state, in the course of which the undocumented migrant worker is offered without conditions attaching, yet with the hope of remittances flowing in return. This offering relates to the oikos, which makes available a limited degree of protection under labour law. The second is a contractual form of submission by the undocumented migrant worker, which is structurally analogous to the master-slave relationship developed in Hobbes’ defense of war slavery. This is related to the polis, which denies all meaningful political activity to the undocumented migrant (as reflected in the denied right to found labour unions). Finally, drawing on Werner Hamacher’s work, I analyse how human rights are intrinsically related to a position of privacy, which escalates into a form of isolation under the structures producing undocumented migrants.

Why Human Rights Fail to Protect Undocumented Migrants

AbstractIn this article, I depart from the factual difficulties of undocumented migrants to access a state’s protection mechanisms for avowedly universal human rights. I relate this aporia to two competing conceptions of territorial jurisdictions. Drawing on the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Migrant Workers Convention, I separate the sphere of the political community (the polis) and that of the house-hold (the oikos) in developing a political theory of undocumented migration. It rests two central tenets: one is a tributary transaction between sending state and host state, in the course of which the undocumented migrant worker is offered without conditions attaching, yet with the hope of remittances flowing in return. This offering relates to the oikos, which makes available a limited degree of protection under labour law. The second is a contractual form of submission by the undocumented migrant worker, which is structurally analogous to the master-slave relationship developed in Hobbes’ defense of war slavery. This is related to the polis, which denies all meaningful political activity to the undocumented migrant (as reflected in the denied right to found labour unions). Finally, drawing on Werner Hamacher’s work, I analyse how human rights are intrinsically related to a position of privacy, which escalates into a form of isolation under the structures producing undocumented migrants.

Migrants of Privilege: The Political Transnationalism of Americans in Mexico

This article applies the literature on political transnationalism to the unique case of a growing population of Americans, born and bred in the United States, who are choosing to live in Mexico. With few exceptions, this population, moving from north to south, fits the model of transnational migrants who reside in a country of settlement while maintaining ties, political and otherwise, to their country of origin. They vote in U.S. elections, raise money for U.S. campaigns, meet with U.S. politicians, and form civic organizations dedicated to the values of their homeland all while residing in Mexico. The exceptions in the case, however, point to the need for minor refinements in the literature on transnationalism to take account of a sending state that is privileged in relation to the receiving state and migrants who are privileged relative to their host society. The case also has important political and policy implications given that this population of U.S. emigrants, many of them retirees, is likely to increase in coming years, as is their cross-border political engagement.

The Costs and Benefits of Migration to Sending States: the More You Look, the Worse It Gets

The Costs and Benefits of Migration to Sending States: the More You Look, the Worse It Gets

Sending States' Transnational Interventions in Politics, Culture, and Economics: The Historical Example of Italy

This article uses archival evidence to study in depth the historical policies of Italy as a classic sending state. Most of the mass migrations of a century ago came from multinational empires, but Italy was a recently formed independent state. Ambitious to benefit from emigration while assisting and protecting emigrants, Italy reached out to “Italians abroad” in several ways. For example, the state opened a low-cost channel for remittances through a nonprofit bank; promoted Italian language education among Italian families abroad; supported Italian Chambers of Commerce abroad; and subsidized religious missionary work among emigrants. Italy's historical example of political innovation and diplomatic negotiation provides context, comparisons, and possibilities for rapidly changing sending-state policies in the twenty-first century.

Haitians in New York City: Transnationalism and Hometown Associations (review)

Francois Pierre-Louis Jr., Haitians in New York City: Transnationalism and Hometown Associations. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, March, 2006,160 pp. Haitians in New York City is an admirable effort to reveal dimensions of the Haitian immigrant experience in the United States that have yet to receive full scholarly attention. Building upon the pioneering work of Basch, Click Schiller, and Blanc (1994), Chierici (1991), Laguerre (1984), Miller (1984), Glick Schiller and Fouron (2001), Stepick (1998), and Stepick and Portes (1994)-works on the immigrant experience that highlight the challenges Haitians have faced to find political and economic security, and recognition as rights bearing subjects deserving of asylum in the U.S.-Pierre-Louis reveals the way that segments of a more established Haitian community have achieved a transnational lifestyle and identity that transcends the so-called boundaries of the state. The Haitian communities in the U.S., and in particular in New York, are gaining ground as viable political forces whose influence is growing both at home in Haiti, and at home (4) in the United States. Integral to Pierre-Louis's analysis are questions about the state itself as a political entity and the challenge that individuals' transnationalism poses to the power of either the sending or receiving state. It is crucial to note that Pierre-Louis is writing from the discipline of political science rather than anthropology. He also writes from his own experience as a Haitian immigrant to the United States who has successfully forged the path of transnational citizenship. Although his study does employ both qualitative and quantitative methods, it is not for the most part ethnography in the traditional sense that would employ life histories or extended exposes of individuals, or that would provide extended processual analyses of historic events (with the exception of the concluding chapter). Nor is it exactly a history. While the entity of study through which Pierre-Louis discusses these issues is the hometown association, what is presented is a meditation on Haitian history, politics, and the transformation of its diasporic citizenry from the late twentieth to early twenty-first centuries. Pierre-Louis's history of activism with the Haitian refugee population in the U.S. and his insider position as a member of former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide's first cabinet certainly provide much of the source material for the book's statements about the Haitian experience and the political and economic upheavals that Haiti continues to experience. Chapter one gives a short overview of how Mexican, Dominican, and Haitian immigrant associations flourish to different degrees according to the politics of their reception by the United States, as well as the extent to which immigrants are focused upon integration with their host country or to politics in the sending state. Indeed, sending states also vary in their capacity to support or partner with hometown associations. According to Pierre-Louis this difference correlates with the level of democracy and effective bureaucratization the sending state has achieved. He makes the crucial point in this chapter that not only do hometown associations act as political forces in the sending state, strengthening links between nongovernmental associations in Haiti and in the U.S., they are also crucial tools for maintaining and reinforcing the distinctiveness of the ethnic group. In the Haitian case asserting linguistic and cultural difference from other groups of African descent is a strategy to shield the community from the racial oppression historically targeted towards African Americans, a point to which Pierre-Louis returns throughout the book. They have increased from ten associations in the 1970s to forty plus organizations in the year 2000, an increase that may indicate as much about the Haitian community's need for support in New York City as it does about the increased possibility to act transnational in Haiti. …

Inside the Sending State: The Politics of Mexican Emigration Control

The social science of international migration has generally ignored labor emigration control policies. In the critical case of Mexico, however, the central government consistently tried to control the volume, duration, skills, and geographic origin of emigrants from 1900 to the early 1970s. A neopluralist approach to policy development and implementation shows that the failure of emigration control and the current abandonment of serious emigration restrictions are explained by a combination of external constraints, imposed by a highly asymmetrical interdependence with the United States, and internal constraints, imposed by actors within the balkanized Mexican state who recurrently undermined federal emigration policy through contradictory local practices.

Re Labelle.

251Jurisdiction — Exemptions from — Visiting Forces — NATO Status of Forces Agreement of June 19, 1951 — Concurrent Jurisdiction of Receiving and Sending States — Waiver of Primary Right of Jurisdiction by Receiving State — Whether Waiver Effective in Proceedings Instituted Prior to Promulgation of Agreement — The Law of France.

Claim Against Foreign Embassy Case.

Jurisdiction — Territorial — Exemptions from — Foreign States — Embassy as Representing Foreign State — Absence of jus standi in judicio.Diplomatic Immunities — Immunities of Envoys — Immunity of Embassy from Jurisdiction — Position of Embassy as Representing Sending State — Absence of Jus Standi in Judicio.

Re Gadois Deceased.

Jurisdiction — Exemptions from — Foreign Armed Forces — Visiting Forces — Exercise of Jurisdiction over Members of — North Atlantic Treaty — Priority of Jurisdiction Vested in Sending State — No Waiver in Favour of Receiving State — Whether Sending State Obliged to Exercise Jurisdiction over Criminal Offence Committed by Member of its Armed Forces.

In Re Best and Others.

Diplomatic Immunity — In General — Status of Persons Accredited to Governments not actually Independent of the Sending State — Whether Answerable for War Crimes.Belligerent Occupation — Treatment of Civilian Population — III-Treatment and Killing of Citizens of Occupied Territory — When Justifiable as Reprisals — When Punishable as a War Crime — Claim of Accused to Diplomatic Immunity — Plea of Retroactivity of Law Providing for Punishment — Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948.

International Law. Legation and Diplomatic Agents. Foreign Minister Held Immune from Civil Process While Passing Through United States en Route from Sending State to Receiving State

International Law. Legation and Diplomatic Agents. Foreign Minister Held Immune from Civil Process While Passing Through United States en Route from Sending State to Receiving State