Migration and Democracy - by Abel Escribà-Folch & Joseph Wright & Covadonga Meseguer (Paperback)

About the Book

"In the rich and growing body of work on democracy, there has been little attention to the connection between democracy and migration; and when there is, it is usually in connection with countries that see in-migration rather than out-migration. The latter is the focus of this book, which looks specifically at remittances--money sent from a migrant back to their home country--and how they reshape the internal balance of power by influencing the incentives and opportunities for political action among individuals receiving remittance income. Not only do remittances provide the resources that make contentious collective action possible, but they also reduce households' dependence on state-delivered goods and thus undermine the effectiveness of regime patronage strategies that underpin electoral authoritarianism. The book starts with a general examination of international migration and associated remittance flows, pointing out that remittance flows have become so great as to be one of the largest sources of foreign income in autocracies--and one that goes directly to democratizing agents (that is, to individuals), largely circumventing authoritarian governments. The authors then look the mechanisms that cause non-democracies collapse, and how these mechanisms are encouraged by remittances. Specifically, the authors look at how remittances inrease the likehood of individual-level protest, decrease the appeal of patronage networks, and act as an accelerant during the democratizing process"--

Book Synopsis

How remittances--money sent by workers back to their home countries--support democratic expansion

In the growing body of work on democracy, little attention has been paid to its links with migration. Migration and Democracy focuses on the effects of worker remittances--money sent by migrants back to their home countries--and how these resources shape political action in the Global South. Remittances are not only the largest source of foreign income in most autocratic countries, but also, in contrast to foreign aid or international investment, flow directly to citizens. As a result, they provide resources that make political opposition possible, and they decrease government dependency, undermining the patronage strategies underpinning authoritarianism.

The authors discuss how international migration produces a decentralized flow of income that generally circumvents governments to reach citizens who act as democratizing agents. Documenting why dictatorships fall and how this process has changed in the last three decades, the authors show that remittances increase the likelihood of protest and reduce electoral support for authoritarian incumbents.

Combining global macroanalysis with microdata and case studies of Senegal and Cambodia, Migration and Democracy demonstrates how remittances--and the movement of people from authoritarian nations to higher-income countries--foster democracy and its expansion.

Review Quotes

"Winner of the Best Book Award, Migration and Citizenship Section of the American Political Science Association"

About the Author

Abel Escribà-Folch is associate professor of political science at Universitat Pompeu Fabra. Covadonga Meseguer is associate professor of international political economy at the ICADE Business School. She is the author of Learning, Policy Making and Market Reforms. Joseph Wright is professor of political science at Pennsylvania State University. Escribà-Folch and Wright are the coauthors of Foreign Pressure and the Politics of Autocratic Survival.