Migration and development in sub-Saharan Africa

Migration in sub-Saharan Africa, as in the rest of the world, has always been an essential element in the historical processes of social, political and economic change. Development (however defined) and migration are intertwined in a set of complex, heterogeneous, and changing relationships in which causality is never one way. In short, migration can be seen as a both a cause and consequence of development and, equally, development is both a cause and consequence of migration. Until relatively recently, the analysis of the overlap between the two processes has often been relegated to the margins of development studies. It is only in the 2000s that questions about the extent to which migration can help or hinder development have moved to the center of both academic and policy agendas, including that of the field of political economy.From Migration in the Global Political Economy, edited by Nicola Phillips. Copyright © 2011 by Lynne Rienner Publishers, Inc. Used with permission of the publisher