Belonging in Modern Societies: Are Citizens Abroad Still Considered A Part of the Polity By Resident Citizens?

In a world on the move, questions of “who belongs” and “where” have long been subjects of much public debate and research. However, in the context of migration research, focus has mainly been directed toward immigration and attitudes towards immigrants, whereas we know little about citizens’ attitudes towards emigrants—particularly when it comes to their access to political rights. In this article, we examine the extent to which the majority views members who have left as still being part of the polity and what can lead to their exclusion, thereby disenfranchising them. Understanding what conditions impact resident citizens’ willingness to (dis)enfranchise nonresident co-citizens is an important step towards delimiting the boundaries of political belonging as resident citizens envision them. Based on a novel preregistered survey experiment fielded in Switzerland, Sweden, and the United States in late 2024, we ask what the conditions are that impact citizens’ preferences for the inclusion or exclusion of fellow citizens living abroad in the local, regional, and national polities. First, we evaluate this based on criteria found in law (e.g., length of residency outside of the home country), but also criteria that attempt to measure emigrants’ “belonging” to the homeland (e.g., interest in home country’s politics, social link to home or residential country, economic contributions to home versus residential country, among others). Additionally, we consider whether citizens punish dual nationals, who would have voting rights in their country of residence. In our initial analysis, we find that particularly the perceived closeness of ties to the home country, that is, how long-ago someone left and how often they return matter for resident citizens maintaining their fellow citizens’ voting rights at the local, regional and national level. Second, we consider what could be driving citizens’ boundary-making. Namely, we investigate the extent to which respondents’ beliefs about national identity, pride, and national narcissism, their political orientation, as well as their own migration histories impact the boundaries they make around the polity.