International Migration and the Transformation of Political Elites

Abstract

Throughout the world, leaders and political elites go abroad to study, train or work before taking up office. Yet, little is known regarding how this migration experience informs their political leadership. Moreover, a growing number of countries worldwide, currently 13, not only allow their non-resident citizens to vote but have also created specific parliamentary seats to represent their citizens abroad. However, both studies of political elites and transnational studies have paid little attention to this new category of representatives. This panel seeks to bridge these gaps by focusing on if, how and with what consequences international migration leads to the transformation of political elites and democratic processes in countries of origin. It addresses broader questions of the extent to which political elites in the developing world have international migration trajectories and how this impacts processes of democratization. In terms of countries allowing emigrants to elect their own representatives, the panel looks at the profile, and political career of emigrant representatives as well as the politics of their selection/nomination. Further the panel addresses the political contribution of emigrant candidates and representatives both in terms of their priority of issues in the campaigns and in terms of the legislative activities after their election. Together, these questions relate to the broader issue of under which conditions and to what extent emigrant representatives bring in new ideas when elected from afar. The selected papers draw on comparative and single case studies from Europe, Latin America, and North Africa as well as a broader statistical analysis across developing countries. The geographical extension of the cases and complementary methodologies across the papers will allow us to compare how international migration relate to the formation of political elites and, more generally, democratic processes in countries of origin.

Title	Details
Re-building institutions through diaspora engagement: the impact of high skilled migrants on domestic change	View Paper Details
Elected from Abroad: Candidates and Elected Representatives in the Tunisian Overseas Constituencies since 2011	View Paper Details
Migration Background and Political Elites in the Developing World: Insights from New Data	View Paper Details
Transnational Candidate Selection among Emigrants for Homeland Parliamentary Elections: the Cases of France and Italy	View Paper Details
Descriptive and Substantive Representation of Non-resident Citizens in the Parliaments of Ecuador and Colombia	View Paper Details