THE ROLE OF MIGRANTS IN LOCAL URBAN RESTRUCTURING AND GLOBAL POSITIONING: THE CASE OF HIGH-INCOME SYRIAN MIGRANT ENTREPRENEURS IN BEIRUT

Abstract

Cities and migration are described by Portes (2000) as two sides of a coin. This notion outlines the strong and direct relation between them. This thesis explores high-income Syrian migrant entrepreneurs’ economic, social and urban impacts on the city of Beirut from the lens of migration studies rather than refugee studies, focusing on migrants’ dynamics with Beirut, and with other localities beyond the Lebanese borders. I consider high-income Syrian migrant entrepreneurs as active agents rather than passive subjects, interacting with and shaping the city, which is also a complex dynamic entity that impacts these individuals’ experiences. My research aims to contribute to the understanding of the dialectic relation between migrants and cities. Through studying the entrepreneurial activities and urban practices of these high-income Syrian migrants in Lebanon, the research also intends to contribute to the literature on migrant entrepreneurship.

Building on Schiller and Caglar’s (2010) framework, my thesis investigates the contributions of high-income Syrian migrant entrepreneurs who relocated to Beirut after 2011 to the city’s local urban restructuring and global positioning. My findings are four-fold. First, thanks to their high and diversified class resources, these individuals play a role in “facilitating privatization and neoliberal subjectivity” (Schiller & Caglar, 2010). Second, the “Syrian” identity/nationality of these high-income Syrian migrant entrepreneurs is not a divisive or discriminatory marker, which enables considerably their social and economic incorporation in Beirut. Third, Syrian entrepreneurs operate with a relative anonymity in the economic, social, and urban realms of Beirut, which makes them independent players, neither Lebanese nor “Syrians”: rather, they are efficient “wealthy business men and women”. Fourth, through their social, economic, and familial transnational networks with their home country and beyond, migrant entrepreneurs are impacting the global positioning of the capital city. The thesis ends with a set of policy recommendations that seek to enhance migrant entrepreneurs’ role in Beirut’s urban and global restructuring.