Transcript Is `home` a distraction?

Is ‘home’ a distraction? The role of
migrants’ transnational practices in
their political integration into
receiving-country politics
Laura Morales
(Univ. of Murcia & Univ. of Manchester) &
Miruna Morariu
(University of Geneva)
Sponsored by:
Research questions
• What is the impact of migrants’ transnational
engagement and practices on their engagement in
host-country politics?
• Do non political and political transnationalism have
the same impact?
• Does the political context of the country of
settlement (POS) has an impact on the link
between transnationalism and political
engagement?
• Are there interaction effects with important features
of the settlement and migration process.
Transnationalism and Political Incorporation
• Transnationalism: wide range of activities, defined
broadly as “the processes by which immigrants forge
and sustain multi-stranded social relations that link
together their societies of origin and settlement”
(Basch, Glick-Schiller and Szanton Blanc 1994: 7).
• Far from generalised and substantially decreases with
second generations.
• We focus on the transnational practices of individuals
and on the impact these practices have on other social
and political attitudes and behaviours by those same
individuals.
• Two approaches to the effects of transnationlism:
– transnational ties and identities hinder migrants’ assimilation
and incorporation to the host society and polity (Huntington
and others).
– transnational ties foster migrants’ engagement in host
country politics (Portes & several other colleagues).
• We are especially interested in assessing the ways in
which these practices might interact with important
aspects of the migration and settlement processes.
–
–
–
–
1st vs 1.5 & 2nd generations
Feelings of discrimination
Ethnic segmentation/segregation.
Citizenship regime.
Comparing the Political Incorporation of Three
Groups Across Cities
• Limit our analyses to 7 cities and 3 ethnic groups to maximise
comparability: Ecuadorians (Madrid, Milan, Barcelona),
Moroccans (Lyon, Madrid, Barcelona), and Turks (Stockholm,
Zurich, Oslo).
• Sufficient degree of variation in the Political Opportunity
Structures (POS) that migrants face for their political integration
Open
Moderately open
Moderately restrictive
Restrictive
Countries/Cities
SE: Stockholm
ES (for Ecuadorians): Bcn, Mad
ES (for Moroccans): Bcn, Mad
IT: Milan, & NO: Oslo
FR: Lyon
CH: Zurich
The Political Engagement of Ecuadorians,
Moroccans and Turks in European Cities
Figure 1. Interest in residence country politics by ethnic group and city, with
autochthonous group as reference.
Measuring Transnational Practices
Table 1: Ever visiting homeland country
Group
City
Count (N)
respondent's
Turks
OSL
291 (300)
STO
197 (235)
ZUR
264 (292)
Moroccans
BAR
209 (222)
LYO
94 (113)
MAD
252 (295)
Ecuadorians
BAR
209 (255)
MAD
214 (291)
MIL
162 (291)
%
97
84
90
94
83
85
82
73
56
Table 3: Very or fairly interested in homeland country politics
Group
City
Count (N)
%
respondent's
Turks
OSL
145 (298)
49
STO
80 (232)
35
ZUR
149 (294)
51
Moroccans
BAR
90 (222)
41
LYO
38 (114)
33
MAD
130 (292)
45
Ecuadorians
BAR
144 (259)
56
MAD
144 (289)
50
MIL
156 (296)
53
Findings
• interest in the host country politics:
– non-political transnational practices (visits to the country of
origin) has a positive effect.
– counteracting effects of the political forms of
transnationalism: being interested in homeland politics is
highly and positively associated; the extra effort of casting a
ballot in homeland elections is negatively related.
– no significant interaction between 1.5 generations or 2nd
generations and interest in homeland politics.
• electoral mobilisation:
– voting in homeland elections, positive effect
– the other variables related to transnational practices have no
significant impact.
• Political action:
– strongest effect for political actions that address
concerns related to their homelands,
– Negative impact of interest in homeland politics
• Overall preliminary conclusion:
– while following homeland politics is not a distraction
for general interest and attentiveness of the political
affairs of the countries where they live, nor for their
engagement in electoral politics, ‘home’ can
sometimes be a distraction to become engaged
beyond the electoral realm.