Between Returning from Abroad and Remigration: A Contextual Approach to the Case of Romania

Why do Romanians go abroad? Higher salaries, better conditions for practising the professions known or desired, the dissatisfaction here, compared to the opportunities perceived there? How to explain remigration abroad, after returning? These are the research questions we address here. Since return migration and emigration are complex transnational relations, we are using multiple methods of analysis and national, community and individual data, all of which are subordinated to the idea of a context analysis for understanding the above-mentioned relation for the case of an Eastern European country, Romania. The key finding is that social justice is lower in places with many return migrants from abroad. This is another finding that could support the idea that re-migration abroad is not only economically determined but is also related to the quality of public institutions. The paper also supports the idea that a good understanding of the community context of emigration abroad - by considering accessibility to large cities, historical regions of the community location and the main destination countries - could contribute to better policies in the area.