Is Free Movement of People Subverting Democracy in Europe? A Hirschmanian Hypothesis

Abstract

Mobility within the EU is normally understood as economic: a flow from poor members from Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) to the wealthier West which recently replaced a similar flow from the poorer South to the North. It is rarely noticed, however, that the same flows represent also movement from lower quality democracies to higher quality ones. If so, it is plausible to expect that this movement, on a scale unseen in Europe since WWII, will have some feedback effect on the quality of democracy too. Indeed, as we know from Albert Hirschman, citizens are facing a perennial dilemma between ‘voice’ and ‘exit’. The other choice they have to make according to him is between investing their time and energy in actions in the public sphere and pursuit of private welfare. By facilitating the exit option on one side and enhancing the opportunities for private prosperity on the other, the Union, for all the great things it provides, may subvert democracy in the member states. This effect may be negligible in most of the ‘old’ member states which have not seen significant outward migration but it should be very strong in the ‘new’ member states in the East. Thus, the paper aims to initiate the systematic exploration of the relationship between emigration and democratic backsliding which is currently the most characteristic trend in CEE. It begins by an exploration of the dynamics of mobility, participation and private welfare which may (or may not) come into play in the context of European integration and of the free movement of people in particular. This is followed by a brief discussion of the available evidence for the relationship between mobility and political participation – all of it from other contexts. It concludes with an argument that the EU ought to compensate its adverse effect on domestic democracy and (very briefly) discusses the types of measures which could remedy the problem.