Irregular Migration in the South: Migrating from Nicaragua to Costa Rica

Abstract: Studies about migration and development consist of a vast field of themes. However, irregular migration between developing countries is to a large extent still an unexplored area. Based on a constructivist approach and a qualitative study, this paper explores the structural explanations of irregular migration from Nicaragua to Costa Rica and the categorisation of migration flows into ‘south’ and ‘north’. The thesis concludes that labour segmentation, social and migratory networks as well as contextual transborder issues are the main structural explanations when examining migration flows. These structures are both national and transnational, and therefore the possibility of studying irregular migration from a nation-state perspective is limited. The thesis also finds that rather than contributing to an in-depth understanding of migration flows, the categories of ‘south’ and ‘north’ shows on global power relations. Therefore it concludes that de Haas’ theory dividing countries into five groups is a more adequate framework in understanding migration flows.