Search

In recent years, researchers working on the nexus between migration and politics in countries of origin have started to pay more attention to the local level, but important empirical and theoretical gaps remain. By drawing upon semi-structured interviews, field observation and documentary research, this paper presents the exploratory case study of the 2012 local elections in Borșa, Romania, when an emigrant became mayor due to the mass mobilisation of the diaspora. Our analysis makes a three-fold contribution to the emerging literature on the impact of migration on local politics. First, it provides fresh empirical evidence from the largely underexplored context of intra-EU mobility. Second, it proposes an inductive classification of the factors and mechanisms at micro-, meso- and macro-level that allowed for the political change in Borșa in 2012, thus providing the basis for a framework of the prerequisites for migrant-led political change at the local level. This includes recognising ad hoc transnational mobility as a distinct mechanism of migrant political mobilisation. Third, by identifying also some of the post-election challenges faced by the migrant political actors, we extend Danielson’s (2017) framework of ‘acceptance’, ‘rejection’ and ‘integration' by proposing the category of ‘negotiated political integration’. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the lasting impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on research ethics in social sciences by focusing on the concept of vulnerability. We unpack the current conceptualisations of vulnerability and their limitations and argue for the need to reconceptualise vulnerability as multidimensional, consisting of both universal and contextual dimensions, as well as their dynamic interplay. Multidimensional vulnerability is inspired by and relevant to social science research during the pandemic but can also be useful in other contexts such as climate change or conflict. The paper puts forwards several considerations about how this revised concept of vulnerability may be useful when evaluating ethical dimensions of social science research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The role orientation of political representatives and candidates is a longstanding concern in studies of democratic representation. The growing trend in countries to allow citizens abroad to candidate in homeland elections from afar provides an interesting opportunity for understanding how international mobility and context influences ideas of representation among these emigrant candidates. In public debates, emigrant candidates are often portrayed as delegates of the emigrant constituencies. However, drawing on the paradigmatic case of Italy and an original data set comprising emigrant candidates, we show that the perceptions of styles of representation abroad are more complex. Systemic differences between electoral districts at home and abroad are relevant for explaining why and how candidates develop a trustee or delegate orientation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Policies allowing enfranchisement of non-resident citizens (emigrants and their descendants) are now implemented in the majority of states worldwide. A growing number of case studies show that the extension of voting rights to non-resident citizens is often contested among country of origin political parties. However, there is no systematic comparative study of why different political parties support or oppose external voting rights and how this position is framed by the parties. Drawing on a unique data set based on 34 debates across 13 countries, we estimate the extent to which ideology and party family are correlated with the positioning and framing of parties. Among the findings are that the more to the right is a party, the more it tends to support external voting rights, except in the case of radical right parties. The position on emigrant voting rights is largely framed along more pragmatic arguments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relationship between political parties and voters is usually analysed in a national framework. However, the majority of states worldwide allow their emigrant citizens to have an absentee vote. This article analyses how parties confront the challenge of mobilising voters across borders. It presents an analytical framework for comparing the scope of party transnational mobilisation strategies across different electoral systems. Drawing on a contextualised qualitative analysis, the article analyses transnational electoral mobilisation of the emigrant vote in recent elections in Spain, France, Italy and Romania. The analysis shows that a cost-benefit analysis of electoral incentives explains the scope of transnational campaign efforts of many of the political parties. Yet the article also suggests locating the analysis of party strategies in the particular context of the transnational electoral field, including the high dispersion, uncertainty and volatility of the emigrant vote and the overlap between the electoral arenas among emigrants and at home. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A growing number of countries have granted their emigrant citizens the right to vote in homeland elections from afar. Yet, there is little understanding of the extent to which emigration issues are visible in the subsequent legislative processes of policymaking and representation. Based on an original data set of parliamentary activities in Spain, Italy, France and Romania, this article analyses why political parties pay attention to emigrants. To that end, we propose a conceptual framework which draws on both theories of issue salience and substantive representation. Bridging these two frameworks allows us bring in both parties (salience) and constituencies (representation) in the analysis of the linkage between electorates and parliaments at a transnational level. We test a series of hypotheses and find that parties are more likely to focus on emigration issues the stronger their electoral incentives and in the context of electoral systems allowing the emigrants to elect special emigrant representatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the linkages between migrant transnationality, locality, and the transformation of local government practices within the field of overseas development assistance (ODA). A growing literature critically analyses how migrants as development agents are embedded in, as well as challenge, local and transnational power hierarchies. This research field is not only centred on the dynamics in the countries of migrant origin but also includes the interaction between the social and institutional contexts in the receiving country and the transnational development practices of migrants. We explore these wider issues through an analysis of the overall trends in migrant access to ODA among Catalan local governments, which have dedicated a (small) part of their annual budget to ODA activities since the 1980s. We set up an original database with information from four consecutive comprehensive surveys of ODA practices of Catalan local governments between 1999 and 2008, each cohort representing more than 90% of the total Catalan population. Subsequently, we show that variation in migrant access to ODA funds across different local governments and migrant nationalities is related to both the size and diversity of municipalities and a range of institutional/political variables. These include the overall ODA spending of the local government, which party is in power, and the extent to which local governments pool their ODA resources within a regional development association for municipalities. In this way, the analysis contributes to our understanding of the potential of migration and migrant transnational practices to transform local institutional practices. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last decade both national and local actors in Spain have picked up on international trends encouraging a policy framework of migration and development. Policies of codevelopment are tied in with issues of migration management in the sense of linking current and future migration flows with processes of development in the country of origin. However, this article demonstrates how codevelopment policies and initiatives of local governments in Catalonia also relate to migrants' local process of incorporation in their country of residence. In so doing, the article seeks to bridge and contribute to studies of migration and development as well as issues of national and local citizenship and migrant incorporation. Importantly, the article highlights the role of receiving country local governments in the nexus between migrant transnational practices and processes of incorporation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Like other migrant groups in Catalonia, Moroccans can solicit financial and technical assistance to help better conditions in their localities of origin within the framework of co-development policies. This policy environment reflects international trends of integrating migration and development, including a strengthening of the participatory role of the migrants themselves. Drawing on a qualitative study of Moroccan migrant transnationalism in Catalonia, I analyse the interplay between Catalan actors' support for migrant civic transnationalism and the perception of and participation in projects of co-development among Moroccan migrants. One of the key aims is to explore to what extent timing, that is, the combination of recent patterns of Moroccan migration and the relatively intense debate on migration and development, influences the balance between top-down implementation of the migration development agenda and bottom-up initiatives from the Moroccan migrants. The paper shows how participation in co-development projects varies among Moroccan associations and outlines the main explanations for both involvement and non-involvement. Thus, the paper engages with the growing literature on the relationship of migrants' transnational practices with local and transnational power hierarchies, highlighting the role of receiving-country political actors, policy discourses and initiatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of International Journal of Urban & Regional Research is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article examines how the social and political contexts in receiving countries affect the transnational political practices of migrants and refugees, such as their mobilization around political events in their homeland. The case study explores the political participation of Turks and Kurds in Germany and the Netherlands in its full complexity, that is in both the immigration country and in homeland politics. The findings suggest that transnational political practices should not be reduced to a function of the political opportunity structures of particular receiving countries for two main reasons: (a) more inclusive political structures, which provide for more participation and co-operation on immigrant political issues, may at the same time, and for that very reason, serve to exclude dialogue on homeland politics; (b) homeland political movements may draw on a different range of resources than their immigrant political counterparts, including those outside the local political institutional context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]