Is Migration a Form of Development Aid Given by Poor to Rich Countries?

This paper traces the evolution of Stephen Castles' writing on the theme of migration and development, using this as a mirror to reflect my own thinking on this subject. I start with his inaugural landmark volume Immigrant Workers and Class Structure in Western Europe, where an explicit Marxist reading of the role of migration is presented, and evaluate the continuing relevance of this framework against the changing nature both of migration and development themselves, and of the conceptual and ideological debate surrounding these two complexly linked phenomena. In Castles' more recent writings, notably later editions of The Age of Migration, a somewhat different perspective emerges, more nuanced and more wide-ranging, set within broader debates on global social transformation and restructuring. From time to time, I bring in my own research on Albanian migration and development in order to illustrate different theoretical standpoints.