Book review: The Cross-Border Connection: Immigrants, Emigrants, and their Homelands

Abstract

First Harvard University Press paperback edition. "Newcomers moving away from the developing world find that migration is a good thing, letting them enjoy the benefits of residence in the developed world, some of which they send on to their relatives at home in the form of remittances. Residing in a democratic state, free from the long arm of their place of origin, emigrants mobilize to produce change in the homelands they left. Emigration states, in turn, extend their influence across boundaries to protect nationals and retain their loyalty abroad. Time, however, proves corrosive, and in the end most immigrants and their descendants become progressively disconnected from their home country, reorienting their concerns and commitments to the place where they actually live." -- Provided by publisher Immigrants, emigrants, and their homelands -- Beyond transnationalism -- The dialectic of emigration and immigration -- Cross-border ties : keeping and losing the connection -- Engaging at home from abroad : the paradox of homeland politics -- Emigrants and emigration states -- Politics across borders : Mexico and its emigrants -- Hometown blues: migrants' long-distance pursuit of development -- Conclusion : foreign detachment.