Transnational Political Participation Research Articles

Migrants' Voter Turnout in the Home Country Elections: Non‐Integration or Political Anchor?

The transnational political participation of migrants has been extensively analyzed in the literature. Previous explanations focus on individual determinants ranging from political interest or efficacy to social ties or socio-demographic characteristics. So far, little attention has been paid to the contrast between factors related to their lives in two different countries. The present article adds to this burgeoning literature by identifying and comparing the effects of several attitudes and behaviors of migrants in the host and home country on their voter turnout in home country elections. We use individual-level data from a survey conducted in 2022 on 1,058 Romanian migrants living around the world. The results indicate that migrants who remain anchored in the politics of their home country—without necessarily striving to return—and those who are engaged in their host communities are more likely to vote. Migrant voter turnout is not determined by poor integration in the host society.

Blogging as Digital Citizen Participation

Abstract This article analyses the political blogging of the Malagasy diaspora as part of their transnational political participation. It focuses on three aspects of the blogs: the most frequent topics addressed, how are the topics addressed, and the political bloggers. To do this, a Thematic Content Analysis based on four categories (‘soapboxes’, ‘transmission belts’, ‘conversation starters’ and ‘mobilisers’) of four of their most active and influential political blogs was conducted. The analysis revealed that (i) the blogs are mostly “soapboxes” that consist of commenting the political issues in Madagascar, (ii) their contents were mostly focused on the coup d’ état in 2009, and (iii) the bloggers are involved in direct political participation in parallel offline. This paper shows the role of the studied blogs as tribunes of opinions that gather a partisan audience discussing the Malagasy political issues, and as judgment tools contributing to the braking or fuelling of Madagascar’s international relations.

Transnational political engagement and emigrant voting

ABSTRACT Globalisation, European integration and increased migration have made life more mobile. Consequently, electorates have become increasingly dispersed geographically. Utilising survey data compiled from Finnish citizens residing` abroad (n = 1,067), we study transnational political participation of emigrant voters. First, we examine how national identification relates with turnout in parliamentary elections and which factors influence emigrants’ voting decision. Second, we analyse how transnational political engagement of Finnish emigrants could be described. The key findings suggest that identification with the sending country has little or no influence on the likelihood of voting in homeland parliamentary elections. Instead, distance to the closest polling station, interest in politics, time lived abroad, age and educational level significantly influence an emigrant’s probability of voting. We suggest that ‘zero-sum relationship’ best describes transnational political engagement among Finnish emigrants: increased engagement in one country leads to decreased involvement in the other. This finding contributes significantly to knowledge of transnational political participation, a topic that has been rarely surveyed from emigrants’ perspectives.

Distance as a cost of cross-border voting

Globalisation and European integration have led to increased mobility, and a growing number of countries have enfranchised their emigrant citizens. However, the political participation of Nordic emigrants has hitherto been a scantly investigated issue. This article examines which factors influence the voting likelihood of emigrants; does distance influence as a cost of crossborder voting, and how does time lived abroad influences emigrants’ decision to vote in the parliamentary elections, both in homeland and in the country of residence. The statistical analyses are based on data collected from 1,067 Finnish emigrants in 2014. The results suggest that distance to the nearest polling station plays a significant role in the emigrant voting decision. Furthermore, we find that emigrants’ probability to vote in the homeland elections decline with time, whereas the probability to vote in the country of residence increases. This study provides a new understanding of voter behaviour in globalised world, and the findings of this article can be used to develop targeted interventions aimed at ameliorating transnational political participation.

Diaspora Mobilizations in the Egyptian (Post)Revolutionary Process: Comparing Transnational Political Participation in Paris and Vienna

ABSTRACTThis article sheds light on the patterns of diaspora mobilization in different settings by placing it in the transnational realm. The article does so by comparing Egyptian activism during the revolution and transformation period (2011–2013) in two European capitals, Paris and Vienna. I argue that different features—emigrant policies of the sending country, integration policies of the receiving country, and characteristics of the migrant group—influence the degree and form of diaspora mobilization.

The political choices of emigrants voting in home country elections: A socio-political analysis of the electoral behaviour of Bolivian external voters

What variables influence the electoral behaviour of citizens voting in home country elections from abroad? Despite the growing interest of migration scholars for the topic of external voting, this question remains largely unanswered. Basing ourselves on the existing political science literature on electoral behaviour and on the migration literature on immigrants' participation in host country politics, we isolate different hypotheses that explain emigrants' preferences in home country politics. We then build four models of voters based on these hypotheses: the social group voter, the ideological voter, the interest-driven voter, and the transnational voter. In the second part of the paper, we verify the validity of these models using the results of a survey carried out with Bolivian emigrants who took part in the 2009 Bolivian presidential election from abroad. Overall, this article identifies the drivers of immigrant transnational political participation and contributes to current debates on social remittances.

Media use and transnational political and civic participation: a case study of Mexicans in the USA

AbstractAlthough communication is largely understood as a prerequisite for transnational activity, little research explores exactly how transnational communities use media and what the implications of media use are for transnational civic and political participation. Research from communication studies suggests that media can affect civic and political participation in various, sometimes contradictory, ways. In an effort to merge literature from transnational and communication studies, in this study I focus on the case of Mexicans in the USA, offering secondary analyses of two datasets concerning their communication habits and civic and political participation in Mexico. Results suggest differential effects on participation based on preferences for certain media and pre‐existing attitudes.

Proxy citizenship and transnational advocacy: Colombian activists from Putumayo to Washington, DC

ABSTRACTProxy citizenship is the mechanism through which certain rights of citizenship—the ability to make claims for redress to a state—are conferred on activists through relationships with NGOs. Focusing on advocacy from within the policy process, U.S. and Colombian NGOs channeled political legitimacy and rights of access to Colombians, whose claims emerge from the experience of governance as articulated through testimony. This process, and its roots within the shared history of the Putumayo region of Colombia and Washington, DC, reveals emerging practices of citizenship claims and transnational political participation.

Dual Nationality and Transnational Politics

This article focuses on two migrant groups in the Netherlands, one in which the majority is naturalised (Surinamese) and one in which the majority has dual nationality (Turks and Kurdish-Turks). It explores the impact of home and host states’ citizenship regimes on: (1) the citizenship choices of individual migrants; (2) their (trans)national political participation; and (3) the transnational political participation of homeland-based non-state actors such as (return) migrant organisations and political parties. I conclude that transnational political orientations are often responses to exclusionary citizenship regimes in sending countries, which deserve greater attention in studies of migrant transnationalism than they have hitherto received.

Table of Contents

International MigrationVolume 49, Issue 3 p. 189-189 Table of Contents First published: 19 May 2011 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2435.2011.00698.xAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat No abstract is available for this article. Volume49, Issue3Special Issue: THE TRANSNATIONAL POLITICAL PARTICIPATION OF LATINO MIGRANTS IN EUROPEJune 2011Pages 189-189 RelatedInformation

The Transnational Political Participation of Latin American and Caribbean Migrants Residing in Europe

AbstractMigration from Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) countries to Europe has increased in great proportions over the last decade. Researchers (principally from southern Europe) have tried to underscore the reasons explaining this phenomenon while also studying different questions related to the presence of these populations such as that of gender, development, or integration. While many of these works have integrated the transnational dimension of contemporary migration, little has been said so far on the capacity of these migrants to develop transnational political ties and what this means for sending and receiving societies. This publication seeks to address this gap by looking at forms of transnational political involvement as they develop among different LAC communities in different parts of Europe.

The transnational political practices of Colombians in Spain and the United Kingdom: politics ‘here’ and ‘there’

Most existing scholarly work available on Colombian migrants’ transnational political practices has emphasized the divisions, mistrust and apathy affecting them. However, research conducted by the author among Colombians in the United Kingdom and Spain departs from previous studies by stressing the broad nature of migrants’ transnational political participation, which involves engagement in both formal and informal politics, at the individual and collective levels, and in initiatives coming from ‘above’ and ‘below’. It also shows how transnational political practices oriented towards the home country occur simultaneously with activities in the host society, contrary to what has generally been thought. This was more the case among Colombians in Spain than among those in the UK, which could be partly explained by differences in the historical development and size of each community, as well as the role played by individual factors, such as migrants’ previous political experiences.

Transnational political participation of Algerians in France. Extra-territorial civil society versus transnational governmentality

Since independence, the Algerian state has had mechanisms in place to control its emigrant population but the recent conflict resulted in, and was in part caused by, the crumbling of many of these institutions of control. Throughout the conflict, migrants based in France have been able to exert considerable influence on the Algerian government, while the Algerian government has sought to discredit or control their activities. This article examines an episode of political protest against the Algerian regime by Algerian migrants in France that resulted in a series of high profile court cases in France between 2001 and 2004. The protests originated in allegations of human rights abuses by the Algerian army that were detailed in a series of books, principally Qui a tue a Bentalha? [Yous, N. with the collaboration of Mellah, S. (2000). Qui a tue a Bentalha? Algerie: chronique d'un massacre annonce. Paris: La Decouverte.] and La sale guerre [Souaidia, H. (2001). La sale guerre. Paris: La Decouverte.]. The article draws on a series of interviews with politically active and non-politically active migrants in France and the UK, including the authors of both books and leading figures on both sides of the debate, in order to establish the nature of the relationship between political activism by migrants in France and civil society in Algeria. The literature on civil society is used to highlight the relationship between French-based associations and the Algerian government. The article concludes that French-based activists must be judged on the extent to which they engage with the Algerian government and contribute to the growth of developing civil society within Algeria.

Political Participation and Market Citizenship in a Global Economy: The European Union in Comparative Perspective

This article explores the relationship between economic integration and political participation with a particular focus on the European Union (EU) in comparison with other world regions. There is evidence of spillover pressures from new markets creating pressures for political participation. This is particularly noticeable in the EU’s emerging single market and associated institutions. There are also similar, though much more inchoate, processes in other world regions and in systems of global governance. However, even in the relatively institutionalized EU the effectiveness of new forms of transnational political participation is limited. The author wishes to acknowledge funding from the ESRC project “Strategies of Civic Inclusion in Pan-European Civil Society” part of the “One Europe or Several?” program, (Research Grant: L213252022).

The Politics of Exit: Reversing the Immigration Paradigm

Next article No AccessThe Politics of Exit: Reversing the Immigration Paradigm*Nancy L. GreenNancy L. GreenEcole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales Search for more articles by this author Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences SocialesPDFPDF PLUSFull Text Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by The Journal of Modern History Volume 77, Number 2June 2005 Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/431815 Views: 276Total views on this site Citations: 23Citations are reported from Crossref © 2005 by The University of Chicago. 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The democratic deficit of diaspora politics: Turkish Cypriots in Britain and the Cyprus issue

This article critically examines transnational political practices of migrants and their local and international political ramifications. Recent literature on migrant transnationalism heralds the role that migrants or refugees can play in democratisation in their countries of origin or even as significant actors in global politics. Drawing on an in-depth study of Turkish Cypriots in Britain, this article highlights two crucial and interrelated aspects of migrants' transnational political participation as it unfolds in both their country of residence and their country of origin. First, the paper illustrates the ambiguity of those patterns of political representation that may characterise the interac tion between migrants' homeland political associations and political actors in their countries of origin and settlement. Second, Turkish Cypriot transnational lobbying in Britain highlights how lack of access to the host-country political establishment limits migrants' influence on processes of democratisation in their country of origin. The paper explores the dynamics through which certain organisations manage to negotiate their way into the host-country political system while others remain outside on the 'Hyde Park Corner' of diaspora politics where central policy-makers rarely pass by.