TY - THES ID - 137357929 TI - I-Kiribati migrants - actors in development? : An exploration of the migration-development nexus AU - Jacobs, Sarah. AU - K.U.Leuven. Faculteit Sociale Wetenschappen. Opleiding Master of Cultures and Development Studies PY - 2014 PB - Leuven K.U.Leuven. Faculteit Sociale Wetenschappen DB - UniCat UR - https://www.unicat.be/uniCat?func=search&query=sysid:137357929 AB - This thesis aims to discover the extent to which I-Kiribati migrants can be said to be agents of development in order to shed light on the contemporary discourse on the migration-development nexus. After having introduced Kiribati and its various paths for migration, the thesis will briefly introduce the contemporary conception of the migration-development nexus by placing it in its historical context. Arguing that large parts of the assumptions inherent in and contemporary analysis of the nexus are victim to a sedentary bias and methodological nationalism, it will speak for a global perspective on the nexus that embeds migrants and their movements within wider fields of unequal power. It will argue that I- Kiribati migrants currently greatly improve the life conditions of their kin and community by remitting, yet have but little effect on national development. Furthermore, their agency is highly structured by the restrictive immigration policies of receiving states. Here, the migration-development mantra obscures the high social and economic cost at which migrants move, and the way in which the ‘triple-win’ scenario laid out by mantra enthusiasts obfuscates the highly unequal negotiations preceding and advantages resulting from (temporary) mobility schemes. ER -