Democratic Inclusion of Emigrant European Electorates: Processes, Attitudes, Behaviours and Public Support

Abstract

Transnational politics has emerged as a pivotal dimension within contemporary democracies. This prominence arises not only from the heightened interconnectedness facilitated by modern air travel and digital technologies, but also from its potential to reshape conventional concepts of citizenship and democratic engagement. External electoral rights allow mobile electorates to influence decision-making processes in homeland politics. However, the ramifications of emigrants' political attitudes and behaviours are multifaceted, capable of exerting a profound influence on various facets of political systems, including election results, party dynamics, electoral system reforms, the ascent of challenger parties, and the eclipse of mainstream counterparts. This influence may also manifest in the emergence of novel cycles and modalities of political mobilization. This workshop seeks to bridge the realms of political science and migration studies to yield theoretical innovation and fresh empirical evidence in this research area. The presentations included in the workshop provide novel insights into European diasporas’ political engagement, while elucidating the complex links between emigrants and homeland politics. In doing so, they focus on different analytical levels: emigrant electorates, resident citizens, and political parties and the state. As such, they delves into the preferences and political behaviour of European mobile electorates (the demand side) and elucidate how they align with the supply side in terms of support for these positions among resident voters and through the mechanisms by which homeland governments and political parties enact and manage processes of external enfranchisement. The workshop therefore moves beyond the analysis of individual-level determinants of emigrant political behaviour, by introducing complementary explanations linked to specific European contexts, including the roles played by parties or state regulations.

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