Citizenship Restitution and Territorial Repopulation: A Multi-Level Analysis of Spain’s Return Policies Promoted for the Diaspora in Argentina

In 2022, the Spanish government enacted the Democratic Memory Law, granting facilitated access to Spanish citizenship for the descendants of those exiled during the Franco regime. While originally intended for the offspring of political exiles, the law’s implementation has been relatively flexible, enabling a broad spectrum of grandchildren—regardless of the political nature of their ancestors’ migration—to apply for Spanish citizenship. As a result, hundreds of thousands of applications have been submitted to Spanish consulates worldwide. Concurrently, in recent years, various national, regional, and local initiatives have emerged to address the demographic decline in Spain’s inner peripheries. These policies often target Spanish citizens living abroad as part of wider efforts to repopulate what has come to be known as la España vaciada (“emptied Spain”). The range of individuals encouraged to "return" includes not only recent emigrants but also second and third-generation descendants who have acquired Spanish citizenship—ideally, young professionals willing to relocate with their families to small communities. This paper explores the intersection between citizenship restitution and repopulation strategies targeting Spanish citizens born overseas, focusing on several “return” programs promoted in Argentina, the country that has seen the highest number of citizenship grants under the Democratic Memory Law. Drawing on a transnational multi-level policy and governance analysis, we argue that the law functions de facto as a selective migration policy, as it pre-selects "potential" residents based on ethnic ancestry, who are subsequently targeted by specific repopulation programs designed to revitalize both the demographic and economic fabric of the Spanish territory. This contribution represents the initial phase of a broader research project funded by the European Union through a Marie Skłodowska Curie Actions Postdoctoral Fellowship. The project will examine multi-level Spanish and Italian repopulation initiatives aimed at Argentinean ancestral citizens by combining comparative policy and governance analysis with ethnographic research into the experiences of beneficiaries in several peripheral Mediterranean towns.