Influence of Political Inclusion, Engagement, and Trust on Migrants' Political Involvement in Their Origin Countries

Josefina Sipinen (University of Helsinki & Tampere University) is a postdoctoral researcher at the Tampere University and the University of Helsinki, Finland. Her key areas of expertise relate to political engagement and representation among migrant minorities, youth, and women. She is especially interested in political socialization within these groups, particularly in the development of political efficacy and the transmission of political values and attitudes within families, and how these factors shape political participation and the building of political careers. Sipinen currently works on a research project, 'Discontinuities in Intergenerational Transmission of Political Values in Finland' (DISCO), which is funded by the Kone Foundation and the Finnish Cultural Foundation for the period 2024–2027. DISCO focuses on investigating the congruence of political values between millennials and their parents in Finland, including those of foreign origin. At the University of Helsinki, Sipinen works on a project that studies municipal councillors in Finland during the period 2021–2025 and how their experiences from council work shape their willingness to run again in the future. Peter Söderlund (Åbo Akademi University) is senior university lecturer in political science at Abo Akademi, Faculty of Politics, Economy, and Law. Åsa von Schoultz (University of Helsinki) holds the Swedish Chair in Political Science at the University of Helsinki since 2017. Her research revolves around political behavior and public opinion. She is particularly interested in electoral competition within parties, and of citizens’ and elites’ perceptions of democratic processes. Other fields of interest are voting behavior, political participation and political behavior of minorities and of mobile citizens. Since 2023 she serves as chair of The Society of Swedish Literature in Finland (SLS), a scholarly society operating in the fields of archives, research, publishing and wealth management. Abstract: International migration, a process that involves individuals relocating from one country to another, brings the concept of transnational political engagement to the forefront of discussion. Transnational political engagement encompasses the political behavior of individuals who, although residing in one country, participate in the political affairs of another. This study examines how the ability of migrants to vote in their residence country's elections (political inclusion), their actual participation in these elections (political engagement), and their trust in the residence country's political institutions (political trust) shape their political involvement in their countries of origin. The study relies on empirical evidence collected from an online survey of Belgian (n=1,055), Finnish (n=1,214), and Polish (n=778) citizens living abroad in 134 different countries. These respondents were recruited through social media platforms, namely Facebook and Instagram, during February and March 2023. Consequently, this study focuses on migrants from relatively affluent countries who reside in a variety of global destinations.