Exploring the Missing Links of Migrant Enfranchisement

Abstract

Ever-increasing international migration has stirred debates in the public sphere questioning the democratic dimension of political inclusion, specifically migrant voting. More states grant more political rights than ever before, including allowing foreign residents (immigrants or non-citizen residents) to vote in the residence country and non-resident citizens (emigrants and descendants) to vote from abroad in home-country elections. Previous research on enfranchisement—or the process of granting migrant voting rights—tend to theorize the normative reasons for granting or withholding such rights, or focus on the effects of these rights, such as migrant voter turnout and transnational state- or party-led outreach. Despite overarching acceptance of transnational belonging and multi-territorial political participation, migrant electoral rights tend to be theoretically taken as separate research areas (either foreign residents or non-resident citizens), even when some hypotheses explicitly explore both units of analysis. This panel brings together comparative analyses and case studies to fill in missing links that previous contributions overlook. It adds knowledge on the reasons for migrant enfranchisement, migrants’ agency in the process, and the different incentives that states and political parties face in less developed or less democratic countries, when deciding to grant rights or engage with migrants as political actors.

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