scholarly journals Diaspora Policies, Consular Services and Social Protection for French Citizens Abroad

Author(s):  
Jean-Thomas Arrighi ◽  
Jean-Michel Lafleur

Abstract While predominantly a country of immigration, France also counts with a sizeable population of citizens abroad of around three million individuals (4% of the domestic population). This chapter provides a general overview of France’s diaspora institutions, consular policies and social protection policies for citizens abroad. It describes in detail expatriates’ conditions of eligibility and access to welfare in the areas of unemployment, health care, pensions, family benefits and economic hardship. It shows that France, by European standards, has a comparatively strong level of engagement with its expatriates, particularly in the areas of electoral rights, culture and social protection. This must be understood in the light of France’s colonial history, its continued ambition to be a global actor, and its well-developed domestic welfare state that has increasingly become de-territorialised.

Author(s):  
Magdalena Lesińska ◽  
Izabela Wróbel

Abstract This chapter is devoted to case of Polish diaspora and current diaspora policies and social protection of Poles abroad. The first part presents the general overview of Polish diaspora and its diversification. The second part describes the institutional framework, general strategy and concrete activities the Polish state offers its citizens and persons of Polish origin residing abroad, such as voting rights, repatriation and return, and education. The main part of the chapter focuses on diaspora policies and social protection activities in five areas: unemployment, health care, pensions, family benefits and guaranteed minimum resources. Overall, we show that the main goal of Polish diaspora policies is to consolidate the diversified and dispersed Polish communities abroad and strengthen the cultural links with the country of origin. The priority of diaspora policies is thus to maintain national identity and promotion of Polish language and culture among Poles residing in other countries.


Author(s):  
Consuelo Sánchez Bautista

AbstractThis chapter provides a general overview of the main characteristics of Ecuadorian emigration and describes the general institutional framework whereby Ecuadorian authorities interact with nationals abroad. It then presents a general review of the main engagement policies with the Ecuadorian diaspora. Lastly, it presents the central social protection-oriented diaspora engagement policies and services currently in force to protect nationals abroad, specifically those who live overseas permanently and those in vulnerable conditions. A particular focus is put on policies in the areas of unemployment, health care, pensions, family-related benefits, and economic hardship. Overall, the chapter shows that Ecuador’s policy towards citizens abroad is connected to a political shift in the country and to the new political discourse that appeared as of 2006.


Author(s):  
Pau Palop-García

Abstract This chapter outlines the social protection policies that Spain has adopted to target Spanish nationals abroad. First, it describes the diaspora infrastructure and the key engagement policies developed in the last years by Spain. Subsequently, the chapter focuses on five social protection policies: unemployment, health care, pensions, family-related benefits, and economic hardship. The findings reveal that Spain has adopted a diaspora strategy that targets different emigrant groups such as exiles of the Civil War and early Francoism and their descendants, Spaniards that emigrated to other European countries during the 1950s and 1960s, and new emigrants that left the country due to the consequences of the financial crisis of 2008. Findings also show that, although Spain has developed a wide array of services to target its diverse diaspora, it still lacks a comprehensive scheme of social protection abroad. Moreover, the results suggest that Spain has adopted a subsidiary social policy strategy abroad that is triggered when the social protection offered by states of reception is lacking.


Author(s):  
Mel Cousins

Abstract This chapter focuses on the link between migration and social protection in Ireland. The chapter has two main goals. First, it presents the general legal framework regulating the social protection system in Ireland, paying particular attention to any potential differences in terms of conditions of access to social benefits between national residents, non-national residents, and non-resident nationals. Secondly, the chapter discusses how these different groups of individuals access social benefits across five policy areas: unemployment, health care, family benefits, pensions, and guaranteed minimum resources. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the relationship between migration and social protection policy.


Author(s):  
Mehmet Fatih Aysan

AbstractThis chapter scrutinises the social protection system in contemporary Turkey in order to examine how different groups of individuals access social benefits across five main policy areas—unemployment, health care, family allowances, pensions, and guaranteed minimum resources. The general conditions under which Turkish citizens and foreigners have access to social benefits in Turkey can be summarized as follows: (i) residence and employment status are important determinants of one’s access to social protection in Turkey; (ii) employment status generally determines the access to unemployment benefits, health care, pensions, and family benefits, while residence status is important for all social policy areas except pensions; (iii) a majority of social benefits provided for Turkish citizens are also available for foreign residents through their employment status; (iv) guaranteed income is granted based on residence in Turkey; (v) access to family benefits may vary depending on one’s occupation, residence, and nationality. The Turkish system of social protection is a fragmented one, with divisions based on occupational differences, residence, income level, and citizenship. This fragmented nature coupled with regional and global socio-economic risks (particularly large migration flows) make structural social security reforms inevitable in contemporary Turkey.


Author(s):  
Etienne Smith

AbstractThis chapter presents the main areas of engagement of the state of Senegal with its diaspora. In the first part, it looks at the main institutions and policies geared towards the diaspora. In the second part, the chapter focuses specifically on diaspora policies in the area of social protection (unemployment, health care, family benefits, pensions, guaranteed minimum resources). If Senegal falls in the category of pioneer countries for some aspects of emigration policies (ministerial institutions, external voting, political representation), its policy for the diaspora in the field of social protection is rather scanty. As a developing country facing many structural economic issues, scaling up social protection in the homeland remains the top priority for the Government, relegating social protection for the diaspora as a secondary policy concern for now. Recent governmental policies towards the diaspora have focused primarily on tapping the resources of the diaspora in order to increase its contribution to economic development and facilitate productive investment by Senegalese abroad in their home country.


Author(s):  
Angeliki Konstantinidou

Abstract The diaspora policies that Cyprus has implemented have been largely overlooked in the literature and in empirical studies. While several pieces of work have explored Cypriots abroad, there are no systematic studies that delve into the diaspora policies that the Cypriot government has put forward for non-resident nationals. Hence, this chapter aims to discuss the diaspora engagement policies that Cyprus implements at the economic, political, and socio-cultural levels, as well as to explain the Cypriot diaspora engagement based on the particular historical and political context of the country and the characteristics of its diaspora. In addition, the chapter sheds light on the niche area of social protection policies towards the Cypriot diaspora, with a particular focus on the policy areas of unemployment, health care, pensions, family-related benefits, and economic hardship.


Author(s):  
Zvezda Vankova

Abstract This chapter demonstrates that the Bulgarian diaspora policy is characterized by inconsistent implementation and dissonant institutional context. It is intertwined with the country’s migration policy which is focused, among other priorities, on attracting historic kin communities and Bulgarian emigrants, in order to overcome its demographic decline. Against this backdrop, the country lacks overall social protection policies towards Bulgarians abroad and prioritizes providing information rather than financial support. Firstly, the chapter presents the general institutional framework by which home country authorities interact with nationals abroad, as well as the main engagement policies with this population outside of the area of social protection. Secondly, the chapter focuses on the policies, programmes and services offered by home country authorities in response to social protection needs of Bulgarian nationals abroad across five specific policy areas: unemployment, health care, pensions, family-related benefits and economic hardship.


Author(s):  
Jean-Michel Lafleur ◽  
Daniela Vintila

Abstract Despite the growing literature on sending states’ engagement with their populations abroad, little is known so far about their role in helping the diaspora deal with social risks. As argued in this chapter, this is mainly because past studies on sending states’ policies and institutions for the diaspora have failed to systematically focus on social protection, while also ignoring that regional integration dynamics often constrain domestic responses to the welfare needs of nationals residing abroad. This volume aims to fill this research gap by comparatively examining the type of diaspora infrastructure through which EU Member States address the vulnerabilities faced by populations abroad in five core areas of social protection: health care, pensions, family, unemployment, and economic hardship. Drawing on data from two original surveys with national experts, we operationalize the concepts of descriptive infrastructure for non-residents (i.e. the presence of diaspora-related institutions) and substantive infrastructure (i.e. policies that provide and facilitate access to welfare for nationals abroad) in order to propose a new typology of states’ engagement with their diaspora in the area of social protection.


Author(s):  
William Chiaromonte

Abstract This chapter presents the main characteristics of the Italian social security system, on the one hand, and Italian migration history and key policy developments, on the other hand, in order to analyze the principal eligibility conditions for accessing social benefits (unemployment, health care, pensions, family benefits and guaranteed minimum resources) for national residents, non-national residents and non-resident nationals.


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