Models of Political Inclusion of Diaspora. A Comparative Study of Hungary, Lithuania, and Poland

Political rights are tightly related to citizenship status. Political inclusion illustrates how states ensure diaspora members the right to dual citizenship and vote, which are fundamental rights grounded in the concept of a democratic state. The levels and ways states are conducive to political inclusion demonstrate how they perceive their diasporas. This article compares how three states of Central and Eastern Europe (Hungary, Poland, and Lithuania) ensure their diasporas’ political inclusion through dual citizenship recognition and diaspora enfranchisement. The analysis draws on a three-dimensional, narrative, structural, and practical model of diaspora policy. It demonstrates that the democratic rights of citizenship and voting are grounded not only in the formal inclusion, but, more importantly, in the procedure and practical access to those rights, including modes of acquiring or preserving citizenship, and voting modalities from abroad. The article discusses three models of diaspora political inclusion- overarching, normative and selective inclusion.