The influence of integration on transnational political engagements : the Colombian community in Chile
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2010-08
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en
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This dissertation addresses different factors that influence involvement in the homeland conflict.
The factors discussed (in accordance with the literature from Regts, van Houte and Ruben (2010)
are: integration, perception of conflict, motivations to migrate, travel frequency and date of arrival.
The assumption was that the factor integration has major influence on transnational political
engagements. There were indications that it was the main factor of influence on migrants´
engagements with transnational activities in (post-) conflict countries. During the process of writing
this dissertation, I discovered that the other factors play an important role as well. Therefore, I
looked into all relevant factors, but the focus was placed on the presumed link between integration
of migrants and refugees into new host societies and their influence on the conflict. In light of the
Colombian international migration, the case study of this dissertation focused on the Colombian
transnational community living in Santiago de Chile. “Involvement in the homeland conflict” is an
extensive notion; this thesis focuses on the political transnational engagements.
For this study the Colombian community in Chile was divided into different groups (based on
Aranda & Morande, 2007): migrants and refugees. The migrants were divided on basis of their
education: low skilled workers and Qualified Human Resources (QHR). The refugees were subdivided
into: regular refugees, refugees participating in the Program of temporary exit of Colombians
(programa de salida temporal de Colombianos, PSTC) and resettled migrants. During the research I
discovered that the division of refugees into groups might be relevant for the start of their
integration process, but for the complete analysis the division should have been different. The
refugee group should have been divided into the same categories as the migrants; low and high
skilled people. The degree of education seems to have influence on both the integration process and
the perceptions people have of the conflict as well as on the engagements in transnational political
activities. Where possible I tried to make the distinction between high and low skilled refugees.
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Faculteit der Managementwetenschappen