Brain drain vs Brain Gain – It is established, after almost half a century of contemporary international migration and accompanied academic research, that all attempts, by both countries of emigration and immigration, to draw nationals living abroad to make a somehow “happy coming back” to the home country, as a lever for the former of drawing back the number of migrants mainly for internal politics gains, and for the latter of attracting talents and investments in the development process; both acting, henceforth, on the assumption that the “patriotic call” is to be determinant in producing the desired behaviour from these proved patriotic nationals, indeed, never materialises in fact as expected, despite some financial incentives in this regard.

This sums up the situation for both emigration and immigration countries, regarding their expectations of the emigration and immigration policies implemented, during the first decades of the post WWII era of reconstruction of Europe and post-independence Nation-State rebuilding process for African emigration countries, notably in the Maghreb area.

Mohamed Boudoudou