Why do migrants want vote in country of origin elections? Do they seek to drive change? And what are the reasons why some migrants also feel they ought not to have the right to vote in their origin contexts? Through 80 semi-structured interviews with Polish and Romanian migrants in Barcelona and Oslo the DIASPOLitic team sought to find out.
In the Routed magazine piece, 'Migration and political (non-)participation in origin countries: Romanians and Poles in Oslo and Barcelona' we reflect on insights from our empirical material, and present some preliminary analysis and insight. Several journal articles are currently under work building on this work. In the meantime, we share some of the things which we found striking, interesting and important, in the context of current debates on diaspora voting.
The research was conducted as part of the DIASPOlitic project: 'Understanding the Political Dynamics of Émigré Communities in an Era of European Democratic Backsliding' led from the University of Oslo in collaboration with PRIO. Co-authored by Gabrielle Mikiewicz, Anatolie Cosciug, Kacper Szulecki, Corina Tulbure, Marta Bivand Erdal, Davide Bertelli & Angelina Kussy.
The Routed piece can be read here: https://www.routedmagazine.com/pol-participation-origin
