ABSTRACT In recent years, the prominence of ‘migration’ as a policy domain in many African countries has shifted from labour-export policies to so-called ‘diaspora policies’. In these policies, migration is emphasised as a key instrument to stimulate development, particularly through return to the homeland and migrant entrepreneurship. Despite much attention accorded to migrants’ agency and affiliated cultural aspects in the ‘migration and development nexus’ debate, practices of return migration policy suffer from an inconsistency problem. The intention to promote national development is restricted by conceptual boundaries that define ‘return migration’ as a uni-directional flow from countries of immigration to countries of origin, and that reduce ‘development’ to its economic dimension. Acknowledging that migration and development have been long recognised in the scholarly literature as multi-faceted phenomena, this article exposes this inconsistency problem through ethnographic research among return businessmen in Senegal, whose experiences are advocated in diaspora policy as ideal returnees. I show how their practices are rooted in transnational relationships with the former country of immigration and, by implication, are built on bi-directional rather than uni-directional flows. Their motivations to return and invest depend on the sustainability of such relationships. I further illustrate that, by cultivating transnational linkages, initiating innovation and setting new examples, return businessmen bring implications for development well beyond economic growth as the core interest of diaspora policy. I conclude that the framing of development as a goal of diaspora policy in economic terms neglects what return migrants themselves value as important development objectives and outcomes.

中文翻译：

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返回移民、创业和发展：通过以移民为中心的方法对比塞内加尔侨民政策的经济增长视角

摘要 近年来，在许多非洲国家，“移民”作为政策领域的突出地位已从劳动力出口政策转变为所谓的“侨民政策”。在这些政策中，移民被强调为刺激发展的关键手段，特别是通过返回家园和移民创业。尽管在“移民与发展关系”的辩论中对移民的能动性和附属文化方面给予了很多关注，但返回移民政策的实践仍然存在不一致的问题。促进国家发展的意图受到概念界限的限制，这些界限将“返回移民”定义为从移民国到原籍国的单向流动，并将“发展”归结为经济层面。承认迁移和发展长期以来在学术文献中被认为是多方面的现象，本文通过塞内加尔返回商人的人种学研究揭示了这一不一致问题，他们的经验在侨民政策中被提倡为理想的返回者。我展示了他们的做法如何植根于与前移民国的跨国关系，并暗示建立在双向而非单向流动的基础上。他们返回和投资的动机取决于这种关系的可持续性。我进一步说明，通过培养跨国联系、发起创新和树立新榜样，回归商人对发展的影响远远超出了作为侨民政策核心利益的经济增长。