Acquiring ‘voice’ through ‘exit’: how Moroccan emigrants became a driving force of political and socio-economic change

This paper argues that labour migrants who emigrated from Morocco between the 1950s and the 1970s have experienced a reconfiguration of their power relationships vis-à-vis and within the Moroccan state. The paper examines Moroccan state–diaspora relations and explores the work of transnational organisations that operate between France and Morocco. It draws on fieldwork carried out between September 2012 and January 2013 through interviews with migrant community leaders, Moroccan government officials and migration scholars as well as participant observation within migrant organisations. Over the years, the Moroccan state has engaged in significant reforms to ensure that this emerging diaspora brings economic, social and political benefits to the state. Given that many Moroccan emigrants come from the most economically disadvantaged and politically marginalised regions, their involvement in development initiatives has called into question existing policies and the role of the state. Emigrants’ involvement in activities related to the sending country needs therefore to be included in the analysis of ‘diaspora policies’ in order to account for migrants’ agency. Reflecting on the relevance of Hirschman's conceptual framework in relation to state–diaspora relations in general and the Moroccan case in particular, the paper argues that Moroccan communities abroad have undergone a process of political empowerment and succeeded in getting a ‘voice’ through their ‘exit’ by making their interests visible to the state.