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In this paper we present the Emigrant Policies Index (EMIX), an index that summarizes the emigrant policies developed by 22 Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) states. In recent decades sending states have increasingly adopted policies to keep economic, political or social links with their emigrants. These "emigrant policies" vary in scope and nature between different countries and include measures as diverse as dual citizenship policies, programs to stimulate remittances, the right to vote in the home country from abroad, and the creation of government agencies to administer emigrant issues. The EMIX proposes a useful tool to condense and compare a wide spectrum of policies across countries. Its development involved the collection of official data, as well as a critical review of secondary literature and input from experts as complementary sources. Through a rigorous framework for constructing the index, we show how emigrant policies can be aggregated to measure the overall degree and volume of emigrant policies in LAC states. The results of the EMIX portray a region that has indeed made serious efforts to assist their diaspora in the states of reception and to encourage their involvement in the political, economic and social fabric in the states of origin. The results, however, also reveal great variation in the emigrant policies and the administrative setting adopted by LAC states.

Latin American and Caribbean states seek new relations with their emigrants. From external voting rights to co-funding schemes for remittances, states have introduced a range of cross-cutting policies in an attempt to reach out to their citizens abroad. Yet, these "emigrant policies" hold challenges for all parties involved: migrants, sending states, and receiving states. Latin American and Caribbean states have a long history of outmigration. About 18 million Latin American and Caribbean migrants reside in the United States alone. For some Latin American and Caribbean countries, over 15 per cent of their population live abroad. Migrant remittances are a key pillar of many economies, accounting for 20 per cent of GDP in El Salvador. Yet, these transfers are only the tip of the iceberg of broad transnational migrant networks. Emigrants engage with their home countries through many channels besides the economic. The region has become a pioneer of an emerging global trend: the development of state policies that explicitly target emigrants along social, economic, cultural, and other areas. Citizenship is the main area in which emigrant policies have developed, followed by social policies, which suggests a significant spillover beyond borders of basic state welfare functions. Policy Implications: Emigrant policies present new patterns of engagement of states of origin with emigrants. Receiving states should carefully consider the specificities of those patterns when developing integration strategies. Across Latin America and the Caribbean, some countries help their emigrants to remain abroad and to integrate, thus strengthening the continuation of emigration, while others seek their return and adopt policies that are more conducive to circular migration programmes. In both cases the emigrant policy approaches of states in the region lower the costs of integration for emigrants and receiving states, providing useful benchmarks for sending countries and venues for sending and receiving states to collaborate.

Trotz formalem Kriegsende und umfangreicher internationaler Unterstützung fliehen und migrieren weiterhin viele Menschen aus Nachkriegsgesellschaften. Die internationalen Programme zielen in erster Linie darauf, die Kriegsfolgen zu bewältigen und die Eliten zu befrieden. Sie wirken kaum auf die Fluchtursachen ein; eine Friedensdividende für die Bevölkerungsmehrheit fehlt. Die individuelle Entscheidung zur Flucht auch nach Beendigung von Kriegen hängt eng mit strukturellen Problemen zusammen. Wo Frieden auf die Abwesenheit von Krieg reduziert wird, können zentrale gesellschaftliche Spaltungen nur schwer überwunden werden. Somit bleibt die Qualität des Friedens im Nachkrieg gering. Die Qualität von Frieden kann über spezifische Kontexte hinweg mit drei Faktoren bestimmt werden: dem Ausmaß der Gewalt auch unterhalb der Schwelle zum Rückfall in den Krieg; dem Zugang der Bevölkerung zu Recht und der Möglichkeit politischer Partizipation sowie der Schaffung von sozialen und wirtschaftlichen Perspektiven zum Überleben und für soziale Mobilität. Erfahrungen in Nepal und El Salvador illustrieren das Wechselspiel dieser Faktoren an der Schnittstelle zwischen Staat und Gesellschaft. Staatliche Repression und andere Formen der Gewalt sind enorm. Das politische System wird von den alten Eliten dominiert. Jugendliche und Ex-Kombattanten haben keine Zukunftsperspektiven. Fazit Internationale Akteure müssen ihre Strategien in Nachkriegskontexten so verändern, dass die Mehrheit der Bevölkerung vom Kriegsende profitiert und nicht nur die jeweiligen Eliten. Die Beendigung von Kriegen und formale Demokratisierung können hierfür ein erster Schritt sein. Damit wird jedoch nicht automatisch ein langfristig tragfähiger Frieden geschaffen, der die Ursachen von Flüchtlingsbewegungen vermindert.