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espite being able to afford to. In this case, political opposition is a factor influencing the desire of the individual to participate. The crucial implication is that the capability of any one individual to contribute to their home country is influenced
244 K. Koser Table 1. Categorisation of individual and community activities by type and geographical focus Economic Political Social Cultural Home-country . focus . . . . . . Host-country . focus . Financial remittances . Other remittances . (e.g. medicine, clothes) Investments Charitable donations Taxes Purchase of government bonds Purchase of entry to government programmes Charitable donations . Donations to community . organisations . Participation in elections . Membership of political parties . . . Political rallies . Political demonstrations . Mobilisation of political contacts in . host country . . Visits to friends and family Social contacts ‘Social remittances’ Contributions to newspapers circulated in home country Membership of social clubs Attendance at social gatherings Links with other organisations (e.g. religious and other refugee organisations) Contributions to newspapers Participation in discussion groups (e.g. Internet bulletin boards) Cultural events including visiting performers from the home country Events to promote culture (e.g. concerts, theatre, exhibitions) Education Source : Al-Ali et al . (2001).
Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 245 by a combination of both capacity and desire to participate. Table 2 categorises the factors found to increase individual capabilities to participate in post-conflict reconstruction at home. For the purposes of this article it focuses on those factors related to the context in the host society, though it is important to recognise that conditions at home also affected capabilities (Al-Ali et al. 2001). For the purposes of the argument being developed in this article, it is worth focusing attention on three specific aspects of these findings. The first is the great significance of employment as a factor determining the capacity of refugees financially to assist their relatives at home. Chances of employment, in turn, were found among the respondents to be related to factors such as language skills, education, professional background and experience, the transferability of qualifications, access to training, discrimination and the specific job market situation in the host country. There were also a number of ‘subjective’ factors that increased or decreased employment possibilities among refugees. Traumatic experiences during the war were often the cause of depression, insecurity or emotional instability and decreased the capacity to find employment. In other cases, the perceived limbo situation of being neither ‘here’ nor ‘there’ became a paralysing force that prevented refugees from actively seeking employment. Even more significant than financial stability in terms of overall links and activities related to Bosnia in particular, was the question of the legal status in the host country for refugees. Despite different policy and legal contexts, Bosnians in both the UK and the Netherlands expressed concern and insecurity with respect to their legal status. This insecurity not only hindered integration and prevented people from actively seeking employment, but also led to psychological problems, which sometimes caused apathy and a lack of commitment. There also tended to be a close correlation within the