This book assesses recent migration patterns in Europe, which have significantly included 'return migration' against the stream of East-West migration. Since the Eastern enlargement of the EU, many regions of Central and Eastern European have experienced a loss of human resources in core industries, raising concerns about social, economic and territorial cohesion in the region. The success rates of national and regional governmental policy aiming to retain or re-attract skilled workers have been variable, yet return migration has emerged as a major element of migration flows. Bringing together leading researchers on this important topic in contemporary European geography, the contributors analyse a series of key issues. These include: theoretical frameworks in the field of return migration; the nexus between return migration and regional development; the effects of the global and European crisis on emigration and return migration; non-economic motivations for emigration and return; the intergenerational character of return migration, and; the reintegration of return migrants into post-socialist societies. Taken together, the chapters see return migrants as important agents of change, innovation and economic growth. The book will be of great interest for scholars and students of human, economic and political geography.

Introduction: Mobility Against the Stream? New Concepts, Methodological Approaches and Regional Perspectives on Return Migration in Europe (Lang, Thilo (et al.)) Circular Migration as (New) Strategy in Migration Policy? Lessons from Historical and Sociological Migration Research (Pries, Ludger) Return Migrants as Knowledge Brokers and Institutional Innovators: New Theoretical Conceptualisations and the Example of Poland (Klein-Hitpaß, Katrin) Migration in Working Lives: Looking Back after Return; a Structure and Agency Approach (Grabowska, Izabela) Transnational Entrepreneurs in the Western Balkans: A Comparative Study of Serbian and Albanian Migrants and Returnees (Predojevic-Despic, Jelena (et al.)) Temporary Labour Migration from Eastern Europe: The Role of Human Capital Investment and Migration Agencies (Danzer, Alexander M. (et al.)) Measuring Return Migration: The Example of Eastern German Labour Return from Western Germany (Nadler, Robert) The Counter-Diasporic Migration of Turkish-Germans to Turkey: Gendered Narratives of Home and Belonging (King, Russell (et al.)) ‘You’ll Have to Start Learning Irish Now’: Irish Return Migration and the Return of the Second Generation to the Connemara Gaeltacht Region (Chearbhaill, Rhona Ní) Circularity Within the EU: The Return Intentions of Latvian Migrants (Krisjane, Zaiga (et al.)) Stay, Return or Move On? Mobility Decisions of International Students in Germany (Glorius, Birgit) History, Memory and Remigration: Familial Cultures of Memory as a Background to the Return of Entrepreneurs to East Germany (Blanckenburg, Christine) Why People of Turkish Origin Leave Germany and How They Feel in Turkey: Results of an Online Survey (Bürgin, Alexander (et al.)) An Easy Game? Experiences of ‘Homecoming’ in the Post-Socialist Context of Croatia and the Czech Republic (Tomić, Caroline Hornstein (et al.)) European National Policies Aimed at Stimulating Return Migration (Boros, Lajos (et al.)) Conclusions: Current and Future Perspectives on Return Migration and Regional Development in Europe (Nadler, Robert (et al.))