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An introduction is presented in which editor discusses various articles within the issue on topics including historical background of migration, additional challenges of poverty and urban gentrification in India.

Migrants may send remittances for a variety of reasons. Studies adopting the perspective of the new economics of labour migration (NEML) identify migrants' altruism or self‐interest as the motivation for their remittances. This paper first recognises the limits of the NELM perspective due to its utilitarian conception of migrants' altruism and inability to distinguish between altruism and self‐interest. The discussion also reveals a preponderance of quantitative studies examining remittance utilisation in the origin communities in the absence of the migrants who are sending the funds. These studies must necessarily indirectly deduce migrants' motivation to send remittances, leading to post hoc and inconsistent interpretations. In a review of the existing literature, this paper identifies alternative conceptualisations of migrants' agency and structures embedding their remittances as well as emergent properties of both their agency and those structures. Lastly, it outlines a heuristic typology to empirically study migrants' remittances following Durkheim's approach to suicide, demonstrating the usefulness of this typology by citing examples from the literature as well as reflecting the author's dissertation research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the migration policies of Hungary and Germany with a particular focus on the role of elites in the legal, factual, and discursive dimensions of elitist policy agenda‐setting and implementation between 2015 and 2017. Theoretically, the elitist policy‐making model is supplemented with democratic theories and the theories of regional integration. Methodologically, the paper is a comparative analysis aiming to account for the variance between two EU member states with opposite approaches to migration. Indeed, while Hungary and Germany are usually pitched against each other as two radically different examples of migration policy, the elite‐centered approach shows a puzzling symmetry of differences between these two case studies. While policy results are divergent, there is a palpable cohesion of behaviours and narrative patterns, indicating that the political elites are the primary driver behind shaping and implementing migration policies. After establishing the theoretical underpinnings, the paper compares national legislations, accepted migrant quotas, and the official narratives of the Hungarian and German governments. The case analysis allows for the reinterpretation of seemingly contradictory migration policies and, as such, offers new solutions to the problem both on the national and international levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article comments on article "Towards post-multiculturalism? Changing community, conditions and contexts of diversity" published in previous issue of the periodical. Topics discussed include growing evidence of discrimination and racism against minorities and the rise of anti-immigrant political parties, low educational attainment, poor jobs and ill health among those from minority backgrounds and migrant countries of origin in forms of migration.

This article analyses the influence of family ties on migration and discusses the selection and dynamic of changes that depend on the duration of residence in the Republic of Sakha, Russian Far East. The article is based on a study in three Far Eastern industrial towns, Lensk, Mirny and Yakutsk, where people were questioned about the history and motivations for their change of residence. The data is complemented with anthropological long time fieldwork. To explain the migration processes in the region, the data was placed in historical and economic context. Apart from migration, vectors were also the respondents' connections to different places and their families. This is the first large study of the migration where data was collected using questionnaires, whereas earlier researchers failed to pay sufficient attention to the types and duration of migrant family relationships in the places of exodus. The research demonstrates differences in dynamics and reasons behind the migration, but also reveals a picture of a highly mobile population in the Russian Far East. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we examine how insurance affects income inequality in Sub‐Saharan Africa, using data from 42 countries during the period 2004–2014. Three inequality variables are used, namely: the Gini coefficient, the Atkinson index and the Palma ratio. Two insurance premiums are employed, namely: life insurance and non‐life insurance. The empirical evidence is based on the Generalised Method of Moments (GMM). Life insurance increases the Gini coefficient and increasing life insurance has a net positive effect on the Gini coefficient and the Atkinson index. Non‐life insurance reduces the Gini coefficient and increasing non‐life insurance has a net positive effect on the Palma ratio. The analysis is extended to establish policy thresholds at which increasing insurance premiums completely dampen the net positive effects. From the extended analysis, 7.500 of life insurance premiums (percentage of GDP) is the critical mass required for life insurance to negatively affect inequality, while 0.855 of non‐life insurance premiums (percentage of GDP) is the threshold required for non‐life insurance to negatively affect inequality. Policy thresholds are provided at which insurance penetration decreases income inequality in Sub‐Saharan Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The general focus of policy is to achieve pre‐designed goals considered by policy‐makers to be of interest to societies or targeted groups. Policy research has, therefore, witnessed a significant tilt towards improving scientific knowledge and understanding policy enactment processes, and the extent to which they achieve desired goals. Policy deviance – the tendency for members of society to ignore or disrespect laid‐down policy guidelines – has often been considered a crucial determinant for poor policy outcomes. However, the benefits of policy deviance, and the conditions under which societal groups register such benefits currently account for only a negligible number of studies. This article reduces this existing knowledge gap by examining the nexus between policy deviance and poverty reduction, based on a case study of deviant migrant households who relocated to settle around the Lake Nyos area in Cameroon. The empirical analysis through a livelihoods lens revealed a positive relationship between deviance and poverty reduction. The conclusion suggests that not all policy deviance situations lead to negative outcomes. It emphasises the need for a constant analysis of the policy outcome nexus, as opposed to the assumption that deviance leads to negative outcomes. Further research is needed to ground this contention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on communities, conditions and contexts of diversity towards post-multiculturalism and model as contributing to a demise of the welfare state and the failure of public services. It mentions forms of immigration impacted on multicultural theories and relationships of immigrants with sending countries. It also mentions seek to foster both the recognition of diversity and the maintenance of collective national identities.

The article focuses on global trends and issues of international migration in twenty-first century and factors in social transformation and development in all regions of the world. It mentions challenges cultural traditions, national identity and political institutions and shape international population mobility in the period ahead. It also mentions United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), seek to distinguish clearly between refugees and migrants.