Democratization through Migration? Political Remittances and Participation of Philippine Return Migrants

Abstract

Democratization through Migration? Political Remittances and Participation of Philippine Return Migrants. By Christl Kessler and Stefan Rother. Lanham, Maryland: Lexington Books, 2016. Hardcover: 181pp. This book presents a convincing narrative on political socialization of Filipino migrant workers in both democratic and authoritarian host countries, and extent and ways by which such socialization affects workers' attitudes towards politics in their home country. It is convincing because it nuances what is obviously a complex nexus: and politics. The main strength of book lies in mixed quantitative-qualitative research methodology employed by authors. The book draws largely from surveys among first time and returned migrants, but it also allows migrants' voices to speak for themselves. It is this combination of data and voice that makes reader pay close attention to every page. Throughout book there are tables and figures, as well as vignettes of real-life stories and first-person accounts. The thus come to life and reader is provided with a fascinating, broad picture of transnationalism, not just of migrant work but also of political ideas and values. The research design is thorough from start to finish. The theoretical assumptions of authors are carefully laid out in first chapter and are backed by a comprehensive literature review on a range of pertinent topics such as social remittances, and development, history of Filipino outmigration, issues and problems of Filipino migrants, and politics in Philippines and host countries. In addition, development of research design--from selection of respondents to choice of survey questions, to choice of research implementers (i.e. Social Weather Station for surveys and Department of Political Science of University of Philippines-Diliman for in-depth interviews)--is convincingly explained which further strengthens book's credibility. The outcomes of research are clearly useful. The surveys on profiles of respondents present baseline data that point to empirical evidence for narratives that hitherto relied on anecdotal evidence. The book, for example, has an entire chapter (Chapter 5) on migration in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Taiwan, Japan and Hong Kong where survey results on working conditions and salaries, discrimination, freedom of movement and integration are presented (pp. 49-96). The chapter is capped with an overall as well as differences relating to experience of respondents. The overall of respondents deserves particular attention. The survey results show that there was a generally assessment and that only 21 percent reported any problems in host country (p. 87). It also shows that men often reported problems (26 than women (19 percent) (p. 87). Moreover, even in Saudi Arabia where respondents had the highest number of negative answers with 45 percent on sad side ... happy OFWs [Overseas Filipino Workers] were still in majority (55 percent) (p. 93). These findings are noteworthy because they go against conventional, stereotypical notions that is a negative rather than a positive experience, and that women are more emotional and less resilient than men. …