Return Migration and Regional Development in Europe

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xxiv

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2. Introduction: Mobility Against the Stream? New Concepts, Methodological Approaches and Regional Perspectives on Return Migration in Europe

   • Thilo Lang, Birgit Glorius, Robert Nadler, Zoltán Kovács

   Pages 1-22

3. Conceptual Approaches Towards Return Migration in Europe

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 23-23

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   2. Circular Migration as (New) Strategy in Migration Policy? Lessons from Historical and Sociological Migration Research

      • Ludger Pries

      Pages 25-54

   3. Return Migrants as Knowledge Brokers and Institutional Innovators: New Theoretical Conceptualisations and the Example of Poland

      • Katrin Klein-Hitpaß

      Pages 55-81

   4. Migration in Working Lives: Looking Back after Return; a Structure and Agency Approach

      • Izabela Grabowska

      Pages 83-109

   5. Transnational Entrepreneurs in the Western Balkans: A Comparative Study of Serbian and Albanian Migrants and Returnees

      • Jelena Predojevic-Despic, Tanja Pavlov, Svetlana Milutinovic, Brikena Balli

      Pages 111-127

4. Researching Return Migration: Research Methods, Implementation and Results

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 129-129

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   2. Temporary Labour Migration from Eastern Europe: The Role of Human Capital Investment and Migration Agencies

      • Alexander M. Danzer, Barbara Dietz

      Pages 131-146

   3. Measuring Return Migration: The Example of Eastern German Labour Return from Western Germany

      • Robert Nadler

      Pages 147-166

   4. The Counter-Diasporic Migration of Turkish-Germans to Turkey: Gendered Narratives of Home and Belonging

      • Russell King, Nilay Kılınç

      Pages 167-194

   5. ‘You’ll Have to Start Learning Irish Now’: Irish Return Migration and the Return of the Second Generation to the Connemara Gaeltacht Region

      • Rhona Ní Chearbhaill

      Pages 195-212

5. New Regional Perspectives and Research Questions on Return Migration in Europe

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 213-213

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   2. Circularity Within the EU: The Return Intentions of Latvian Migrants

      • Zaiga Krisjane, Elina Apsite-Berina, Maris Berzins

      Pages 215-240

   3. Stay, Return or Move On? Mobility Decisions of International Students in Germany

      • Birgit Glorius

      Pages 241-259

   4. History, Memory and Remigration: Familial Cultures of Memory as a Background to the Return of Entrepreneurs to East Germany

      • Christine von Blanckenburg

      Pages 261-289

   5. Why People of Turkish Origin Leave Germany and How They Feel in Turkey: Results of an Online Survey

      • Alexander Bürgin, Defne Erzene-Bürgin

      Pages 291-308

   6. An Easy Game? Experiences of ‘Homecoming’ in the Post-Socialist Context of Croatia and the Czech Republic

      • Caroline Hornstein Tomić, Sarah Scholl-Schneider

      Pages 309-330

6. Policy Recommendations and Conclusions

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 331-331

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   2. European National Policies Aimed at Stimulating Return Migration

      • Lajos Boros, Gábor Hegedűs

      Pages 333-357

This book assesses recent migration patterns in Europe, which have significantly included 'return migration' against the stream of East-West migration. Since the Eastern enlargement of the EU, many regions of Central and Eastern European have experienced a loss of human resources in core industries, raising concerns about social, economic and territorial cohesion in the region. The success rates of national and regional governmental policy aiming to retain or re-attract skilled workers have been variable, yet return migration has emerged as a major element of migration flows.


Bringing together leading researchers on this important topic in contemporary European geography, the contributors analyse a series of key issues. These include: theoretical frameworks in the field of return migration; the nexus between return migration and regional development; the effects of the global and European crisis on emigration and return migration; non-economic motivations for emigration and return; the intergenerational character of return migration, and; the reintegration of return migrants into post-socialist societies. Taken together, the chapters see return migrants as important agents of change, innovation and economic growth. The book will be of great interest for scholars and students of human, economic and political geography.

• Regional Policy
• Regional Peripheralisation
• Central Europe
• Eastern Europe
• Western Europe
• Social Economies
• Local Economies
• Geography
• Human Geography
• regional development
• post-socialism
• CEE
• area studies

“The collection of studies provides an extensive review of the current state of return migration and reintegration of citizens in their country of origin, with a special focus on policy approaches that should ease return migration. … I think that the strong and meticulous editorship makes the book a solid composition and a goldmine for references. It is a highly recommended source for policy makers, academics, undergraduate and postgraduate students.” (Anna Irimiás, Hungarian Geographical Bulletin, Vol. 65 (4), 2016)

• Leibniz Institute for Regional Geography, Leipzig, Germany

  Robert Nadler

• University of Szeged, Szeged, Hungary

  Zoltán Kovács

• Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Chemnitz, Germany

  Birgit Glorius

• Chemnitz University of Technology, Leipzig, Germany

  Thilo Lang

Robert Nadler is a Researcher at the Leibniz Institute for Regional Geography, Leipzig, Germany


Zoltán Kovács is Professor of Economic and Social Geography, University of Szeged, Hungary


Birgit Glorius is Associate Professor of Human Geography of East Central Europe, Chemnitz University of Technology, Germany


Thilo Lang is Head of Department at the Leibniz Institute for Regional Geography, Leipzig, Germany

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