1. Hariz Halilovich & Gerda Dalipaj
CASE STUDY THE MIGRATIONS (interactions between diaspora in EU and other countries and political and economic practices in localities of origin; informal sources of political influence; effects of informal channels of economic influence on local interethnic relations)
Hariz Halilovich & Gerda Dalipaj

2. CONTEXT and BACKGROUND
Migrations from the SEE countries to EU and other countries have been one of the many shared demographic and social features of the region. The pull and push factors for migrations − and the destinations in host societies − have varied over different historical periods, but the result of the migration movements from the region has been creation of the distinct transnational (and trans-local!) communities, or diaspora, in different countries in Europe and across the world. Among other characteristics, the concept of diaspora is based on the real and imagined connections between the migrants’ place of “temporary’ emplacement and their “original”/”former” home(land).
Returns are not only one-directional (re-migration) anymore, but they are increasingly circular, symbolic and virtual – and often a combination of those.
Studies on migration suggest that members of migrant groups/diaspora primarily engage with the very specific localities, communities and issues relating to their ‘pre-migration places and social networks. It is also identified that they are main investors in many local communities and that the reasons for such investments are not always based on economic rationalism and expected financial returns on investment.
AIM: By focusing on the utility of informal institutions, this case study looks at different forms of interactions and connections diaspora groups establish and sustain with their respective “home communities” and places of settlement across both space and time. The study also seeks to identify main motivations and opportunities as well as challenges, obstacles and complementarities between formal and formal institutions and their role in establishing and encouraging such cross-border, transnational and translocal activities between EU and SEE region.

3. Bosnian emigration/diaspora
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4. Research Questions (Novi Sad):
In what forms do real, virtual and symbolic interactions between migrants/diaspora and local communities in SEE take place?
How “informal institutions” (kinship, trust, vernacular dialect, local loyalties, informal cooperation, social capital and new social media) influence decisions to reengage with local communities?
What is the relationship between informal and formal institutions in fostering/hindering these engagements, mobility, projects and investments?
What are the most likely areas/issue in/with which the diaspora engages?

5. Research Questions (Ohrid):
Do you have any members of your family living and/or working abroad?
2. Do you receive financial (remittances) or other support from your family members in diaspora? How this support is channeled through from diaspora to local communities (e.g. bank transactions or Western Union or via "bus drivers")?
3. What role do diaspora members play in your local community, e.g. do they invest in infrastructure (roads, schools, churches), employ people to build/maintain their houses or businesses, engage in humanitarian activities, buy or export local produce etc.?
4. Do diaspora members create a "chain migration" trend by assisting other family and community members to migrate for work, marriage, education or other reasons?
5. What are channels and modes through which these activities take place (formal and informal institutions)?

6. semi-structured in-depth interviews, survey
Method and sample:
ethnography,
semi-structured in-depth interviews,
survey
statistical, demographic and other secondary data
local communities (municipalities, villages, neighborhoods, families)
members of diaspora who engage in different forms of returns to their original local communities
local officials (e.g. mayors)
national and international GO, NGO and IOs
websites, forums, social media
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7. Research Strategy:What?
I. Identification of informal practices:
a) Informal practices related to migration & mobility
b) Informal practices related to the settlement and integration in the country of migration
c) Informal practices taking place in the country of origin
II. Identification of networks:
a) What types the groups activated in informal networks?
b) What is the spatialisation of such networks: intra-national, cross-national/regional?
c) Who are the brokers and how are they positioned in networks? 
III. Identification of key events:
a) Global financial crisis
b) Country specific events (e.g. natural disasters)
c) local context
IV. Identification of situations/themes:
a) Employment
b) Travelling
c) Re-settling (finding, making a residence)
d) Provision of documents
e) Remittances

8. Research Strategy: How?
Ethnography: How, where, when? (time important factor to consider)
Interviews: semi-structured/in-depth
With migrants and migrant families
With representatives from institutions (governmental, IOs NGO’s), dealing with issues related to migration, employment, settlement, diasporas (ex: Ministry-level department for diaspora and migration, local mayors, IOM, etc)
Collection and analysis of legal frameworks on regulation of migration and movement in EU and in respective countries involved in the research
Collection of statistical and demographic data on the role of remittances in respective societies (In Albania, i.e. this institution would be INSTAT)
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9. Research Outline of Case Study

10. Open for discussion and your input.
When?
A timeline, a plan for the research and analysis of data:
Precise timeline to be devised
Why?
Importance of the case study for policy:
Migrations and various forms of informal interactions between diasporas and SEE countries shape economic, social and political realities and practices of ordinary people and their communities at both ends of migration.
Policy needs to reflect on these realities and practices, to recognise and build upon them, and where appropriate to integrate them in the EU’ and WB countries’ formal institutions.
Open for discussion and your input.
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11. Questions/themes for discussion
New & old migration
Gastarbeiter & forced migrants
Internal & external migration
Migration to EU
SEE migrants with EU citizenship
Regional migration (eithin SEE)
Current flow of forced migrants through the Balkans towards EU
...
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Thank you! Falemenderit! Hvala! Paldies! Blagodaram!