Migration and Democratic Diffusion: Comparing the Impact of Migration on Democratic Participation and Processes in Countries of Origin

Project Information

MIGRADEMO

Grant agreement ID: 726405

DOI

10.3030/726405

Project closed

EC signature date 18 October 2017

Start date 1 March 2018

End date 31 December 2024

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - European Research Council (ERC)

Total cost

€ 1 451 264,00

EU contribution

€ 1 451 264,00

Coordinated by

UNIVERSITAT AUTONOMA DE BARCELONA
Spain

Periodic Reporting for period 5 - MIGRADEMO (Migration and Democratic Diffusion: Comparing the Impact of Migration on Democratic Participation and Processes in Countries of Origin)

Reporting period: 2024-03-01 to 2024-12-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Processes of international migration and democratic development are important academic and policy concerns. The presence of citizens in one country residing in another, combined with new opportunities for transnational political engagement, generates a series of research questions: Do emigrants influence democratic processes at home through their remittance of money and ideas? Do return migrants bring back new or different understandings about democratic rule? Does the emigrant vote from afar align with or contest the direction of the domestic vote? To what extent and under which conditions is the input of emigrants and return migrants contested among non-migrants? And how do these processes intersect with ongoing social and political transformations in the country of origin?
These research questions and objectives are timely and relevant for broader debates on the political impact of migration. The MIGRADEMO research shifts the attention from the predominant focus on what happens when migrants arrive in countries of settlement to political processes countries of origin. Comparing the content, scope and processes of democratic diffusion will contribute to our knowledge of the conditions under which migration can influence democratic practices. Both the empirical and theoretical contributions are relevant to researchers, policy makers and activists concerned with the broader implications of international migration for processes of democratization in migrant countries of origin.
The MIGRADEMO project has undertaken an ambitious long-term comparative research strategy to analyse and theorize the scope and dynamics of processes of democratic diffusion through migration. The research strategy of the project engaged with both qualitative and quantitative research methods to analyse migration-led diffusion across three levels of democratic participation and processes: 1) The electoral and non-electoral political engagement and attitudes of individual citizens/households. 2) The proliferation, agendas and activities of members of civil society associations. 3) The democratic outlook and activities of members of the national and local political elite with a migration experience. In the fieldwork-based part of the project we have explored these dynamics at both the local and national level in the cases of Romania, Türkiye and Morocco. In addition, we have generated a new large-scale dataset based on aggregate information on emigrant voting pattern (EVP).

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

Over the course of the project, the MIGRADEMO team has generated original datasets across all the research strands. In terms of the research on the impact of international migration on democratic processes and practices in regions of high outmigration, we have focused on Maramures/Romania, Usak and Konya/Türkiye and Béni Mellal-Khenifra/Morocco. We have implemented three household surveys including novel survey instruments in the form of experiments and network analysis. These address the impact of social and financial remittances as well as return on political behaviour and outlook in households in these localities. This research is complemented by fieldwork including in-depth interviews with both returnees and households with family members living abroad. Alongside this, after extensive background research, we have interviewed returnees in major civil society organizations (human rights, gender, environment etc.) and parliament regarding how their migration experience influences their outlook and activities. We have also generated the Emigrant Voting Patterns dataset (EVP) based on aggregate data, which covers 180 elections from 2000-2019,

The datasets and rich material from the qualitative fieldworks have been analysed within and across cases and currently we have peer-reviewed articles and 8 working papers, already presented at international conferences and currently under review or at advanced stages of preparation for submission. Inspired by the ethical challenges to the project implementation, we have also written and published on topics of the concept of vulnerability in research ethics as well as on emigrant enfranchisement in autocracies.
During the final period of the MIGRADEMO project we have organized 3 workshops in the countries of study to facilitate the participation of local scholars and stakeholders, one roundtable on ethics for the PhD students and junior scholars at the UAB featuring our Ethical Advisory Board, and a Final Workshop, with more than 20 papers presented by junior and senior scholars based in Europe, Latin America, North America, North Africa and Asia.

For further and updated information on our publications, working papers and activities see www.migrademo.eu.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

Migration is increasingly recognized to be shaping political landscapes in countries of origin, but existing studies question which factors drive or temper these dynamics. The MIGRADEMO research contributes to this overall research agenda in several ways.
The household surveys in regions of high outmigration across Romania, Türkiye and Morocco include a novel survey experiment that advances our understanding of the relative importance remittance recipients place on financial vs. social remittances. This is important given that household often receive both at the same time. Furthermore, because we implement the same experiment across three different regions, we can engage in a qualitative assessment of how context matters.
There are important synergies between the household surveys and our qualitative fieldwork across the regions of study which provide a rich in-depth source of information about how the impact of international migration intersects with ongoing local socio-economic and political change. For instance, our case-study of a local election in Maramureș presents important insights into which drivers and obstacles influence migrant-led local political change in the short and longer run. This analysis also underscores the relevance of focusing on the local in addition to the national level in studies of migration and democratic diffusion.
The EVP dataset advances the research field on emigrant voting patterns and democratic diffusion. Based on this original large dataset on aggregate information on transnational voting behavior, we are able to compare the voting patterns of resident and non-resident citizens in national elections on a global level and disaggregate these results by country of residence. Our analysis includes a systematic analysis of the influence of the ‘democratic destination effect’ on the partisan preferences of emigrants in homeland elections. We show that a relatively stronger pro-democracy emigrant vote from abroad, depends, among other factors, on the extent of the ‘democracy gap’ between countries of origin and residence and the presence of anti-immigrant parties in countries of residence.

Together with our in-depth analysis of the outlook and engagement of returnees in civil society organizations and parliaments, the MIGRADEMO datasets and analysis provide a cross-country and cross-level contribution to the understanding of the micro-foundations and contextual factors driving or tempering migrant-led change in countries of origin.

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