Putting migration back at the heart of development

Seydou Kanté is originally from Tambacounda, a town in eastern Senegal. A former diplomat, he is now an international consultant for UNESCO. The writer is the founder of the African Institute of Geopolitics and Geostrategy in Dakar. A specialist in migration and geopolitical issues, committed to analysing the dynamics of power, territories and human mobility, he has devoted his work to understanding the relationships between populations, states and spaces in a rapidly changing global context. In Géopolitique de l’émigration irrégulière, l’exemple du Sénégal (Geopolitics of Irregular Emigration: The Example of Senegal), he analyses the mechanisms and contemporary imbalances of this little-studied phenomenon.

What is the starting point for Géopolitique de l’émigration irrégulière?

This book offers a geopolitical reading of a phenomenon that is often approached from a humanitarian or sociological angle, but rarely from a strategic one. In it, I analyse irregular emigration as a revealing indicator of global power relations, while placing it in the historical, economic and cultural context of Senegal.

The book examines the reasons for leaving, the routes taken, the actors involved, but also the collective representations that support them. It seeks to understand how a country like Senegal, which is both stable and seeking transformation, has become a place of mass emigration. It is intended to be an empirical and forward-looking field study that offers insights for rethinking migration governance at the national and international levels.

How would you describe irregular emigration from Senegal?

This phenomenon is part of a paradox: that of a democratic country with strong cultural and religious dynamism, but marked by persistent structural inequalities. This phenomenon reflects both a crisis of hope and a strategy of circumvention. It reveals a youth that is connected to the world, fully integrated into the global imagination of success, but frustrated at not sharing in the benefits.

Emigration thus becomes an individual response to a collective failure of development. It is now organised according to transnational logic, supported by family, digital and economic networks that function as veritable infrastructures of global mobility. It is therefore a globally rooted phenomenon, both local in its motivations and global in its mechanisms.

How is this phenomenon evolving?

Emigration is a function of changes in globalisation and technology. First, we are seeing a diversification of routes: the Atlantic route to the Canary Islands remains emblematic, but other routes are opening up across the Sahara, Latin America and even the Balkans. Secondly, the profile of migrants is changing: while young men remain in the majority, the phenomenon is becoming increasingly feminised, and we are seeing more and more graduates and skilled craftsmen.

Finally, new migration patterns linked to globalisation are redefining irregular migration. Social networks, digital platforms and real-time information flows are reducing distances, facilitating the circulation of success stories and transforming migration into a collective project managed remotely. Irregular emigration is thus becoming a form of globalised mobility, where information, capital and hopes circulate faster than people.

What are the causes?

They are multiple and deeply intertwined. First and foremost, they are economic, rooted in endemic unemployment, particularly among young people, and in the fragility of the productive fabric. They are also social and cultural: in many families, success is inseparable from leaving, and the emigrant becomes a symbol of possible social advancement. Political reasons are also significant: successive crises have sometimes undermined confidence in the future and reinforced the temptation to seek exile.

Beyond these traditional factors, the book highlights the new migratory patterns resulting from globalisation. The compression of space and time, due to the revolution in transport and digital technologies, creates a sense of belonging to a world without apparent borders.

Information flows continuously: a young person in Mbour or Tambacounda can follow, in real time, the success of a friend living in New York, Paris or Madrid. This permanent connectivity leads to an increased perception of mobility as the norm. It also professionalises smuggling networks, facilitates financial transfers and makes emigration more accessible. These global dynamics act as invisible drivers of the phenomenon: they do not create poverty, but they transform the desire for mobility into a concrete project. In short, globalisation has globalised the dream of leaving.

What is specific about emigration in the American case?

Emigration to the United States illustrates this globalisation of trajectories. Unlike the large flows to Europe, it is organised along discreet but highly structured routes, passing through Latin America (Nicaragua, Mexico, Brazil) before reaching North American territory; it is true that Trump’s anti-migration policy has considerably slowed down the phenomenon.

It reflects a reconfiguration of migratory imaginaries: America symbolises individual success, meritocracy and freedom. This specificity shows that Senegalese migration is no longer just a local migration, but a global one, where borders are blurred by digital connections, diasporic solidarity and transnational routes. Emigration to the United States is part of a strategy for social advancement in a globalised world of possibilities.

Why was it important for you to study this issue?

Because irregular migration encapsulates all the challenges of the 21st century: youth, demographics, governance, inequalities and the contradictory effects of globalisation. It highlights the tension between the individual right to mobility and the sovereignty of states, between global dreams and local constraints.

As a geographer and geopolitical analyst, I wanted to move beyond emotional approaches to show that irregular emigration is a major political issue, revealing the structural imbalances of the global system.

What is the geography of maritime, land and transatlantic migration routes?

Migration routes follow the shifting contours of globalisation. The maritime routes, departing from Dakar, Saint-Louis, Joal, Mbour or Thiaroye-sur-Mer, remain the most publicised, leading to the Canary Islands in often tragic conditions. The land routes cross Mauritania, Morocco, Algeria or Libya before reaching the Mediterranean.

New transatlantic routes are emerging, connecting West Africa to Latin America and then to the United States. These routes are not just physical trajectories: they form a network of exchanges, information and solidarity, maintained by diasporas and digital networks. Globalisation, by reducing distances and making the whole world visible, has broadened the migratory horizons of Senegalese people. The migratory space is now global, fluid and interconnected.

What are the possible solutions?

I propose a reflection linked to the presentation of three prospective scenarios that lead to solutions for regulating the phenomenon and mitigating its effects. Within the framework of the new authorities’ ‘Vision Senegal 2050’, a strategic project that aims to profoundly transform the country with a view to sustainable development, several scenarios can be envisaged to understand the future evolution of irregular emigration.

This agenda indirectly invites us to propose several scenarios for the future of irregular emigration from Senegal.

The continuity scenario, with irregular migration flows continuing. Here, irregular migration flows remain sustained, despite the ambitions of the 2050 vision. The book also details a scenario of intensified irregular emigration. In a less favourable context, irregular migration flows could accelerate, even if the roadmap begins to take shape. This scenario could be fuelled by several external and internal factors.

Finally, I discuss the scenario of a sharp reduction or even a halt in irregular migration flows. This would be a direct consequence of the success of ‘Senegal 2050’, which would transform the country’s economic, social and territorial conditions.

Senegal’s roadmap offers a long-term strategic perspective that combines development, sovereignty and sustainability.

It allows migration to be seen not as a failure, but as a variable of development. In this vision, migration regulation does not involve closure, but rather the structural transformation of the national economy: industrialisation, innovation and the strengthening of human capital.

If Senegal succeeds in mobilising its youth around a collective project, it can transform the constraint of migration into a geopolitical asset. Giving people reasons to believe in the country’s future is already a step towards reducing the temptation to seek exile.

The book features a preface by academic Gérard-François Dumont, whose approach is that of a geographer, demographer and economist.

Indeed, the preface by Rector Gérard-François Dumont, to whom I am very grateful, masterfully illuminates the distinction between the right to emigrate, which is a fundamental freedom of individuals, and the right to immigrate, which depends on the sovereignty of states. He reminds us how emigration is an issue whose scientific analysis is paradoxical.

The act of leaving one’s place of residence with the intention of settling elsewhere is the first step without which the second, immigration, i.e. moving to a new place of residence, could not take place. However, emigration is a much less studied phenomenon than immigration.

Irregular emigration arises precisely from this tension between universal aspiration and political control.

It is, in essence, geopolitical. The rector shows that irregular migration constitutes a space of confrontation between the global and the national, between the desire for mobility and the closing of borders.

Extending his thinking, I wanted to demonstrate that this tension is particularly acute in Senegal, where young people experience globalisation on their screens but not in terms of opportunities. Irregular emigration thus becomes a spatial translation of the fractures of globalisation.

What are the geopolitical issues at stake?

They are significant. With its triple function as a country of emigration, transit and immigration, Senegal plays a key role in the management of migratory flows. Given its economic weight, as evidenced by the financial aid provided by the EU to Senegal, the relationship is asymmetrical, with Europe often seeking to dictate the terms of cooperation on migration.

The geopolitical issues are also visible internally. In Senegal, irregular emigration has become a crucial issue of internal geopolitics, especially since 2007. Despite the efforts made by the State to mitigate this phenomenon, particularly in collaboration with international partners such as the EU and the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), NGOs, associations, etc., the results remain mixed, revealing the underlying complexities of this issue.

How do you interpret the recent tragedies involving departures by pirogue?

These are human tragedies and symptoms of a structural imbalance. Each shipwreck reveals the tension between hope and despair, between putting down roots and fleeing. The young people who leave are not simply fleeing poverty, they are fleeing immobility, a feeling of being stuck in a dead end. These tragedies show that closing borders has not reduced departures, but has made them more dangerous. They call for a rethinking of global migration governance, not from the perspective of control, but from that of shared responsibility and the right to development.

Senegal is a young country: more than half of its population is under 25. This educated, connected and ambitious youth is faced with a saturated labour market and an economy with low absorption capacity. It experiences globalisation as a frustrated spectator: it sees, it understands, but it does not participate. Emigration then becomes an act of rupture and hope. It reflects a need for recognition and a desire to belong to an open world. It is also a quest for autonomy in the face of political models that are considered ossified. The departure of young people is therefore not an escape, but an existential affirmation.

What strong measures must the authorities take to prevent this scourge?

Migration must be placed back at the heart of development policies. The authorities must invest in the regions, support local entrepreneurship, modernise technical training and promote the creation of sustainable jobs. Migration cannot be combated, it must be governed. Senegal must also rethink its relationship with Europe, no longer through the prism of dependence, but in a spirit of equitable partnership. Finally, it is urgent to restore confidence: a country that offers prospects to its young people automatically reduces the temptation to leave. The solution lies less in monitoring the seas than in building a credible future on land.

Any message you’d like to share?

It’s simple: no border can stop a dream, but a country that offers its young people the means to dream and succeed no longer has to fear exile! The challenge is not to prevent young people from leaving, but to make them want to stay. It is by rebuilding trust, dignity and a sense of community that Senegal will be able to transform irregular migration into a chosen, reversible and productive form of mobility. In other words, the future must cease to be elsewhere and become here again.