The Return of the Exotic Birds Understanding the role of the governmental authorities in the process of brain gain in Bulgaria

Abstract

One of the integral and significant elements in the cycle of migration is return migration, also known as brain gain, a phenomenon on the rise in Bulgaria. Despite its growing relevance, limited research has been conducted to understand the decision-making processes and dynamics behind migrants’ return. There is also limited research on the effectiveness of policies and programs in attracting reverse migration, and the focus is shifted away from the opinion of the emigrants, resulting in a top-down approach. This thesis? aims to understand what the stimuli behind the decisions of returning are and how these stimuli are understood by the government and reflected in its initiatives. To do so, this thesis takes the Youth Bulgarian Migration and National EURES Network as a case study and discusses them through a bottomup approach. By learning from first-hand experience on the decision-making processes and finding how it relates or not to its programs, the government could point out the weakness of similar programs and improve its actions in the future. The theoretical framework introduces the prospect theory and the Return Preparation illustration. While the methodological tools are qualitative research based on eleven semi-structured in-depth interviews and the realist evaluation approach. The research concludes that reasons which encourage emigrants’ return are grouped under the dimensions of the job and economic conditions, social network, and personal aspiration. The first appears to be the base-stone for the return. The governmental programs and initiatives, however, appear to be of little importance to emigrants’ return. Although they fall under the category of jobs and economic conditions, and social networks, they do not match the needs of the returnees. As a result, this study emphasizes the importance of the bottom-up approach in studying brain gain. The results call for open communication between the target group and the authorities in charge.