Expatriate reconnection: An alternative approach to expatriate recovery and engagement for homeland development: The case of Haiti

Having acquired up-to-date knowledge and resources abroad, skilled and experienced expatriates are seen as a source of competitive advantage for less developed countries (LDCs). Governments of these countries and international agencies are actively promoting the recovery and engagement of expatriates to help their homeland. Yet, the processes through which successful strategies are constructed are not well understood and merit serious attention. This dissertation is a response to the continuing debate and search for appropriate programs, strategies and policies to regain and engage expatriates and their resources in their homelands' development efforts. As a specific case study, this dissertation examines the experience of Haiti.; The dissertation investigates the emergence of expatriates in the more developed countries (MDCs), the connections between expatriates and their homeland, the significance of expatriates, and the various approaches to regaining and engaging expatriates. It does this first in general for LDCs, then in particular for Haiti. Its main objective is to inquire into why Haiti's approach has been largely unsuccessful. The dissertation marries a conceptualization methodology with an institutional approach and an evaluation research method to study expatriate strategies in LDCs.; On the basis of past and emerging themes on the contribution and utilization of expatriates in homeland development, this dissertation develops a conceptual/analytical framework for better understanding, examining, and undertaking such strategic processes, which it applies to Haiti. It argues that an effective recovery and engagement strategy must address not just the needs of the homeland but also those of expatriates. A recurrent theme is that mutual needs and interests must be satisfied. The concept of expatriate reconnection is proposed as a prime mechanism to redress the dislocation of needed skilled human and material resources brought on by the growth of expatriate communities in MDCs. Altogether, the dissertation is an effort to broaden our conception of how expatriate strategies are successfully actualized. It intends to help us rethink the nature, content and location of such strategies so that they are more consonant with the ways in which diverse expatriate and national communities build their worlds and improve their standard of living.