Full Description
Ivan Szelenyi was the Foundation Dean of Social Sciences at NYUAD in 2010-2014 and during his tenure there he carried out a study of Pakistani guest workers who had worked in the United Arab Emirates and were about to take up a job in this country. About 90 percent of the population of the UAE are guest workers (about half of this population is from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh). The critical research question for the study was: is it sustainable to build a nation with 90 percent who are not-nationals and have no legal channels to become citizens of the country where they spend occasionally a substantial part of their life? Can people from different ethno-sectarian background merge into a well functioning society? Given labor shortages in Europe and North America and extraordinary pressure to migrate to these countries these questions do have relevance well beyond the Gulf Monarchies.
Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Chapter 1
Immigration regimes: The various ways how the relationships between native/nationals and migrants/guest workers are institutionalized
Chapter 2
Nation building with non-nationals. An empirical case study of Pakistani guest workers just returning or intending to go to the UAE
Chapter 3
Impact of immigration experience, a comparison of return and prospective migrants
Chapter 4
Conditions of Pakistani guest workers in the UAE and their experiences upon return to Pakistan. The desire to return to the UAE
Chapter 5
Theoretical and policy conclusions
Bibliography
