If one takes a snapshot of Romanian migration, the first observation might be that the home villages or communities are very different. This is also the conclusion that Massey et al. (1994) first reach when comparing Mexican communities. However, if one compares migrant communities in a longitudinal manner, it can be seen rather that they are converging towards similar migration patterns rather than diverging. To explore this, I conducted fieldwork research in two villages from different socio-cultural regions of Romania, and for the second phase of the research followed the migrants to their destinations in Spain. In total I conducted more than 50 biographical narrative interviews with migrants and fifteen in-depth interviews with representatives from local authorities and other key informants on rural Romanian life. The biographical narrative interviews allowed me to take a longitudinal perspective on the migration from the two villages. The aim in comparing the two villages was to understand the internal logic of migration and examine to what extent two different villages showed any syncretism through cumulative structural effects. Analysing migrants’ projects, the family migration and the general migration from the two villages – each accounting for different levels of analysis – allowed me to specify the stages of migration. In the thesis, firstly I explain the socio-economic, cultural and geographical context in the origin community which shapes migration. Secondly, I compare the migration patterns of two families from the two villages, and thirdly I abstract three migration projects specific to the two communities. All these allow me to show that the two villages are at different stages in the migration process (Massey et al. 1994) and also to explain the mechanism of passing from one stage to the next. So far, the literature on migration policies has looked at the receiving countries. Few references are made to the origin countries, and these refer to Mexico, the Philippines and some of the Northern African countries, countries which have an active policy of promoting migration. Literature with regard to the European cases – for example Serbia, which has a Ministry of the Diaspora, or Poland, a country with a very long history emigration – is absent. Moreover, topics such as grounded migration policy making or the local dimension of policy making are still new in the reflexion of scholars. The thesis fills this gap with respect to migration policies of bonding migrants and involving them in development in the home community. The theory that holds together all these components is Luhmann’s systems theory (1995), in the way it was adapted to migration research by Bommes (2005) and Bommes and Tacke (2006a, 2006b). Using systems theory allows me to perform a critique of concepts like migration networks and transnationalism, which are very often used in the analysis of migration.

La recherche s'est occupée des liens de solidarité qui se créent à partir d’actions bénévoles spontanées au sein d’une communauté territoriale. L’ensemble de ces liens a été traité telle une ressource sociale conceptualisable par la notion de « capital social solidaire » et ce dernier a été considéré comme un bien public pouvant favoriser le bien-être social d’une société locale. De cette ressource, nous avons tenté d'en comprendre : 1) ses spécificités ; 2) son processus de micro-fondation ; 3) ses implications théoriques pour une théorie de la société. Le premier but a été atteint en dressant la carte des actions bénévoles mises en place dans deux provinces du nord-est de l’Italie (Trente et Trévise). La carte a montré un cadre hétérogène et diffus d’actions mises en place par les principales catégories d’acteurs de la société locale. Pour analyser le processus de création, les raisons des promoteurs ont été identifiées grâce à une série d’entretiens biographiques Les résultats des entretiens montrent une pluralité de motivations qui soutiennent ces actions et les limites de la théorie du choix rationnel à les expliquer. En ce qui concerne le troisième but, la réflexion a essayé d’éclaircir la nature de bien public du capital social et son utilité pour les débats sur la société civile et sur la cohésion sociale. Cette recherche a mis en évidence, d’une part, la contribution du capital social solidaire dans la valorisation du lien social et, de l’autre, l’utilité de la notion dans les analyses du courant associationniste de la société civile et dans les modèles individualistes de type communautaire de la cohésion sociale. / The research work presented in this doctoral thesis analysed the solidaristic bonds generated by spontaneous voluntary actions within a territorial community. Such bonds form a distinctive social resource conceptualized as “solidaristic social capital”, meant as a public good that benefits the social well-being of a local society. Three main aspects of this resource were investigated: 1) its specificities; 2) the process of its micro-foundation; 3) its theoretical implications for a theory of society. As for the first aspect, a survey of voluntary actions was conducted in two provinces in North-Eastern Italy (Trento and Treviso). Data showed a variety of types of actions producing solidaristic bonds, carried out by a heterogeneous set of social groups. In order to explain the generative process of social capital, a series of biographical interviews were conducted, which shed light on the life stories of promoters of voluntary actions, as well as on the limitations of the rational choice theory in accounting for the complexity of their motivations. Finally, the main theoretical implications of the notion of social capital were discussed, focusing on its nature as a public good and on its contribution to a theory of civil society and social cohesion. On the one hand, the solidaristic social capital emerged as a source that helps strengthen social bonds. On the other, this notion might play a crucial role in the theoretical elaborations based on the associationalistic approach to civil society and on individualistic models of community type of social cohesion.

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