Diasporas, Remittances and Africa South of the Sahara: A Strategic Assessment

This research paper examines the relationship between remittances and political influence in Cape Verde, the Comores, and Lesotho. It argues that the political weight of a diaspora is not determined by its size or the volume of remittances, but rather by the structure and organization of the recipient state.

• There is no direct correlation between the amount of remittances a country receives and the political influence of its diaspora. While remittances are vital for balance of payments, they are private transfers to individuals and cannot be used as diplomatic tools or sanctions in the way foreign aid can.
• The political impact of a diaspora depends primarily on the organization of the home state. Cape Verde has successfully integrated its diaspora into domestic politics through the Instituto das Comunidades (established 1986) and by granting diaspora members seats in parliament and the right to vote in presidential elections.
• In the Comores, the diaspora is highly fragmented and disorganized, reflecting the political and social divisions of the islands. This fragmentation, combined with a lack of consistent state policy to engage migrants, has limited the diaspora's ability to form a unified political lobby.
• Basotho migrants in South Africa generally do not view themselves as a diaspora due to the lack of border controls until 1963 and the enclave nature of Lesotho. While they have limited political influence in Maseru, there is significant support among migrants for the political integration of Lesotho into South Africa.
• Remittances can reinforce existing social inequalities rather than disrupt them. In Cape Verde, wealthier islands like Boa Vista and São Nicolau received more funding from the diaspora, while poorer agricultural islands like Santo Antão received less because their migrants were low-earning casual laborers.
• In Lesotho, the state has historically extracted wealth from migrant labor through a deferred payment scheme (1974–1996) where a portion of wages (reduced from 60% in 1979 to 30% in 1990) accrued automatically to the government, yet the state failed to protect these workers from the effects of retrenchment.

APA

de Montclos, M.-A. P. (2005). Diasporas, Remittances and Africa South of the Sahara: A Strategic Assessment. Institute for Security Studies. https://issafrica.org/topics/conflict-prevention-and-analysis/20-may-2008-iss-feature-xenophobia-in-south-africa/01-mar-2005-monograph-no-112-diasporas-remittances-and-africa-south-of-the-sahara.-a-strategic-assessment-marc-antoine-perouse-de-montclos/chapter-2

Chicago

de Montclos, Marc-Antoine Pérouse. Diasporas, Remittances and Africa South of the Sahara: A Strategic Assessment. Institute for Security Studies, 2005. https://issafrica.org/topics/conflict-prevention-and-analysis/20-may-2008-iss-feature-xenophobia-in-south-africa/01-mar-2005-monograph-no-112-diasporas-remittances-and-africa-south-of-the-sahara.-a-strategic-assessment-marc-antoine-perouse-de-montclos/chapter-2.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=de Montclos |first1=Marc-Antoine Pérouse |title=Diasporas, Remittances and Africa South of the Sahara: A Strategic Assessment |publisher=Institute for Security Studies |date=1 March 2005 |url=https://issafrica.org/topics/conflict-prevention-and-analysis/20-may-2008-iss-feature-xenophobia-in-south-africa/01-mar-2005-monograph-no-112-diasporas-remittances-and-africa-south-of-the-sahara.-a-strategic-assessment-marc-antoine-perouse-de-montclos/chapter-2 |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{demontclos2005diasporas, author = {de Montclos, Marc-Antoine Pérouse}, title = {{Diasporas, Remittances and Africa South of the Sahara: A Strategic Assessment}}, institution = {Institute for Security Studies}, year = {2005}, month = mar, url = {https://issafrica.org/topics/conflict-prevention-and-analysis/20-may-2008-iss-feature-xenophobia-in-south-africa/01-mar-2005-monograph-no-112-diasporas-remittances-and-africa-south-of-the-sahara.-a-strategic-assessment-marc-antoine-perouse-de-montclos/chapter-2}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }