Refugee Return and Social Cohesion
This paper explores the impact of refugee return on social cohesion using data from Burundi, a country that experienced high levels of repatriation during the 2000s. It uses a nationwide survey conducted in 2015 and relies on geographic features of...
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| Language: | English |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2022
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/099032406232218786/IDU052aadee5089b304b0b0880605a64276a8e34 http://hdl.handle.net/10986/37596 |
| Summary: | This paper explores the impact of
refugee return on social cohesion using data from Burundi, a
country that experienced high levels of repatriation during
the 2000s. It uses a nationwide survey conducted in 2015 and
relies on geographic features of the communities for
identification purposes. The results suggest varying impacts
of refugee return on different aspects of social cohesion.
The stronger effects, suggest that refugee return has a
negative impact on the feeling that community members help
each other, could borrow money for emergencies from
non-household members and feeling that the community is
peaceful. The estimated impacts on measures of
reconciliation, post-conflict justice, trust and
participation in community groups are mostly statistically
insignificant. The paper also explores how these effects
differ across different sub-samples based on ethnic
composition, land scarcity and attitudes towards return. The
results highlight the possible role of new migration-related
societal divisions (i.e. returnees versus stayees) in
affecting post-return social cohesion. |
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