Globalisation and International Migration: Catholic Social Teaching Principles and Socio-economic Development through Remittances from the United States of America to Mexico 
Rev. Michael A. Bouzigard, S.J. D.PhiI. (Oxon.) 
Jesuit Social Research Institute: Loyola University of New Orleans 
Paper Presented at the Academic Workshop on The Social Doctrine of the Church in the Social and Economic Field Sponsored by University Centre Saint-Ignatius Antwerp and International Institute CanonTriest, Ghent, Belgium 16 April 2008 
Abstract 
Globalisation manifests the free movement of money, capital, and goods across national boundaries; whereas, a concomitant free movement of persons across nation-states remains politically and socially contentious. This paper advances two arguments: I) a Catholic social teaching (CST) principle which supports the right of persons not to emigrate places a duty upon the government of Mexico to enact socio-economic development practices which both multiply the positive effects of remittances-as the net flow of wages earned by migrant labourers in the United States of America and returned for productive use in Mexico-and promote local, state, and national economic development within Mexican communities, and 2) the CST principle which recognizes the right of persons to emigrate from Mexico to the United States of America also entails an individual and familial duty to support the socioeconomic development of one's local Mexican community through remittances. 
Conclusions offered connect CST principles with practical responses to international migration and development. Remittances invested either at the community level or on the familial/individual level must also reflect an authentic subsidiarity. Hence comprehensive social and economic development practices for the common good engage a particular duty of state-actors in Mexico to implement concurrently national-level socio-economic policies, including international trade liberalisation and small business development. Likewise, existing social networks within migration streams should not only be officially recognized by governments in the United States and Mexico but also enhanced by promoting socioeconomic practices, which allow for greater participation and inclusion of all members within their respective communities, enacting greater solidarity.