Emigration and diaspora policies in the age of mobility

Despite a long history and high levels of international out-migration flows, Senegal does not have a coherent migration policy framework. Its approach to managing migration is done on a case-by-case basis, often based on urgency and reflecting a lack of coordination between the institutions involved in dealing with migration. Nonetheless, Senegal has been implementing a series of policies meant to engage with its diaspora and to manage migration flows, placing them at the centre of its relations with the main international partners. This chapter examines the development of such initiatives which, following Gamlen (2006) and Weinar's (2017) typologies, can broadly be divided into diaspora policies on the one hand, and emigration policies, on the other. Since the 1960s, Senegal has been adopting a series of emigration policies, which are understood as policies that facilitate or curb mobility (outward or return) across international borders. Until the 2000s, these have mostly been concerned with intra-continental migration, particularly migration within the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) region. After that, Senegalese migration to Europe became the focus of most policies adopted by the government. Senegal signed several bilateral agreements with France, Italy and Spain for a concerted management of migration flows. [...