Elusive Development: The Disillusionment of Migration Studies in Socialist Yugoslavia

This article analyses the emergence of modern migration studies in socialist Yugoslavia and their contribution to the debate on the development effects of migration. In the mid-1960s after massive outmigration from Yugoslavia to Western Europe started, the government supported the establishment of migration studies as a new scientific field. This article argues that migration research was initially closely aligned with political agendas. Development was a priority in policymaking, which is why Yugoslav migration research was strongly interested in the development impact of migration. This study shows, however, that scholars became increasingly sceptical about such an effect. Instead, some highlighted the limitations on development of the restrictions on private business created in Yugoslavia’s self-managed economy. The government thus decided to blame the messenger and disbanded the leading migration research centre in Zagreb. This article is based on the analysis of original research from that time, archival documents and expert interviews.