Are They Building a “Second Ireland” in Poland? Political remitting between democratic countries of Europe

Abstract

Speaker - Dr Dominika Pszczolkowska, Centre of Migration Research, University of Warsaw Despite the significant body of literature on migrations after the 2004 and 2007 enlargements of the European Union, including on social remittances, a subcategory—political remittances—is only now starting to receive attention. To date, most research on the topic concerned remittances from democratic and developed to non-democratic countries, e.g. from the United States to Latin America or from the European Union (including the UK) to Russia, Ukraine or non-European countries. This research, based on thirty-four interviews with Poles active in the transnational space between Poland and Ireland, supplemented by a survey of Poles in Ireland (n = 503) and a press query, investigated (broadly defined) political remittances, understood as a subcategory of social remittances – all those aimed at the public sphere. It explored the conditions in the country of origin and destination which facilitate or hinder political remitting at the stage of content creation, transmission and impact, and the areas of political remittances of Polish migrants to Ireland or return migrants transfer in the transnational space. The remittances were found to concern three main areas: (1) the perception of minorities (ethnic, national, sexual); (2) the transparency of government and closeness of representatives to citizens; and (3) the cooperation between the authorities and other actors to achieve local economic development. The article argues that political remitting in the Polish-Irish transnational space can be treated as an example of much broader phenomena taking place between countries of the European Union, especially those linked by large migration waves. It demonstrates that – contrary to what much of the literature suggests – political remitting does not only take place between countries at very different stages of economic and political development. Thus, political remitting within democratic and developed Europe deserves more research attention.