Transnational Migration and Development in Postwar Peripheral States: An Examination of Guatemalan and Salvadoran State Linkages with Their Migrant Populations in Los Angeles

Abstract

This article examines politically motivated migration from El Salvador and Guatemala to the US. The author argues that the nature of these countries' insertion into the global economy require these states to devote considerable resources to establish relationships with their respective emigrant populations in the US. The Salvadoran immigrant hometown organizations have become incorporated into home country local development efforts at a higher level than their Guatemalan counterparts due to a more developed organizational structure, higher levels of interaction/collaboration with government officials, and a higher degree of democracy achieved in El Salvador as compared to Guatemala. Both Salvadoran and Guatemalan immigrant organizations gain some leverage over the process of local development and politics in these countries. However, government policies that attempt to channel remittances will contribute little to productive development at the local level in the absence of state-supported macroeconomic policies aimed at reducing socioeconomic disparities in Guatemala and El Salvador.