Contenu du sommaire : Migrations et développement soutenable

Multi-Sited Family Systems: Proposal for an Analytical and Methodological Framework to Explore the Links between Migration and Rural Development in the South This article proposes an analytical and methodological framework for investigation of the links between migration and rural development in the South, based on the concept of multi-sited family systems. The livelihood strategies and capabilities of families are analyzed through the prism of their spaces of mobility and of the circulations linking the urban to the rural on national and international scales. The application of the analytical framework in rural Nicaragua allows us to test its pertinence.

Migration and the Restructuring of the Livelihood Strategies of Rural Families in Mozambique: An Institutional Perspective on Contemporary Circulation Drawing on an empirical case study in Mozambique, this paper analyzes the role played by migration in the restructuring of the livelihood strategies of rural households, in terms of the diversification of their activities and processes of resource accumulation. The results, based on an institutional approach combined with the notion of circulation drawn from social geography, show the decisive role played by contemporary forms of migration and their institutional dimensions in economic differentiation dynamics.

Migration, Fund Transfers, and Socio-Economic Impacts: The Case of the Comoro Islands Since the mid-eighties, migration among Comorians has grown significantly. More specifically, most individuals immigrate to France. In 2004, the World Bank estimated that between 85,000 and 150,000 Comorians were living in France. These migrants transfer a significant part of their income to their home country. This paper analyses immigrants' movements and fund transfers, and their economic and social impact on the Comoro Islands.

Sustainability and Migration in Small Island Economies: Issues in New Caledonia Migration plays an important role in small island economies. It can be examined from two complementary and intertwined perspectives: on one hand, external migration affects paths of growth through fund transfers made by international migrants; on the other, internal migrations shape geographical and sectorial equilibria. These two approaches merge and complement one another in examining the case of New Caledonia. In this contribution, the debate on the effects of migration on the sustainability of small island economies is revisited. In the first part, we discuss issues and models of migrations in small island economies. In the second part, we establish, based on the New Caledonian example, that migration can also play a positive role in the sustainability of economic growth.

Climate Change and Migration: The Emerging Structure of a Scientific Field and the Process of Public Policy Formulation Environmental migration is an issue subject to a plurality of competing qualifications. Its construction as a “public problem” at the international level has stabilized around the issue of climate change. Focusing attention on the renewed efforts to understand this complex phenomenon, as well as the diversity of theoretical approaches and policies that have been formulated around it, this article emphasizes the need for a shift in the analytical framework: considering adaptation projects as “actants” that produce their own political effects in fragile contexts of action would allow us to conceive of institutional responses more in tune with the needs and expectations of vulnerable populations. The example of the Sahel is used to illustrate this.

Residential Economic Base Theory Applied to Two Divergent Regional Economies: French Polynesia and New Caledonia The ratio of the “extended” economic base proposed by Davezies is very close to that of Keynes's multiplier of autonomous spending (if we include local public spending and external resources). The divergent development of external resources in New Caledonia and French Polynesia (exports of goods and services, net unilateral transfers, and direct foreign investment) allows us to explain their very different development over the period 2002–2010 (seven years over which a gap of 49 % opened up). However, the ratio of “extended” base to external resources is not stable in the medium term, which renders its application for predictions beyond a limited short period problematic.

International Benchmarking of Africa's Infrastructure Performance The lack of quality infrastructure in Africa is widely recognized in the literature, despite a large increase in infrastructure investment over recent years. This paper provides a benchmarking of African countries' infrastructure performance across four major sectors: electricity, water and sanitation, information and communication technologies, and transportation. The results suggest that infrastructure performances in African countries are generally far below what would be expected from countries with a similar level of economic development.