Lifestyle migrants in Spain. Contested realities of political representation (original) (raw)

The Political Candidacy of EU Migrants in their European Countries of Residence. The Case of British and Romanians Standing in Spanish Local Elections

What explains the variation in how European citizens of diverse origins are politically incorporated in the member states of residence? This paper argues that immigrant groups' status in the host society plays an important role in political party responses to immigrants' political participation. Drawing on the case of Romanian and British candidacies in the Spanish local elections from 2011, the paper finds that the level of competition between parties is the key mechanism for incorporating candidates from a positively/neutrally perceived group. Instead, a greater level of ethnic diversity encourages the incorporation of candidates from the negatively perceived group. To demonstrate this, the paper uses an original data-set with the Romanian and British candidates in a large number of Spanish localities.

European mobility and local political incorporation: The case of British and Romanian residents in Spain

This paper analyses the impact of European mobility in the field of the political nomination of intra-EU migrants in local elections. The study contributes to the debates in the literature related to immigrant nomination and representation by showing how group resources and political opportunities in the country of residence interact with the political opportunities of the European citizenship regime. It argues that the symbolic and legal status of European identity, representation in the European Parliament and strong links between political institutions in the countries of destination and origin play a positive role in boosting immigrant political entrepreneurs’ visibility vis-à-vis host country political actors. In order to illustrate these findings, the paper provides a qualitative comparison of British and Romanian residents in Spain.

Political Participation of Latin American Migrants in Andalusia: Opportunities and Constraints

2014

The main purpose of this article is to present the results of a research project on the political participation of latin American migrants in Andalusia (mainly in the cities of Seville and Huelva). The project uses a broad concept of what political participation constitutes, including both civic practices and activities associated with conventional politics, and adopts a transnational perspective. it is based on 45 semi-structured interviews with politically active migrants and members of political parties and other institutions. The article highlights some of the main findings of the research, including the importance of taking into account migrants' previous political experiences, as well as the role played by migrant associations in order to better understand their political practices.

"Caught somewhere between demanding the right to vote and being a folklore club - Actors, input and concepts of migrants' political participation. A micro historic case-study"

Migration and Politics is a complex issue and it covers more than the well-known attempt of nation states to influence migration by political decisions. The idea of migrants being political caused very different reactions: On the one hand, receiving countries disapproved any political activities and -in some cases -explicitly disciplined migrants for doing so by expelling them at least until the beginning of the sixties. On the other hand, most western European societies at some point discussed the missing political representation of migrants, whose part of the population was growing steadily, when it comes to politics. They tested four possibilities in order to deal with this new democratic dilemma: easier naturalizations, suffrage on different levels without for all inhabitants, a growing "denizen"status and advisory boards for migrants. This article focuses on the last possibility and analyses a micro historic case study, an advisory board for foreigners in a small industrial commune in Belgian Wallonia called Seraing, founded in 1973. By using the board's minutes, interviews with members and civil servants of the community and ego documents, this essay explores the different concepts of political participation that were discussed in the board, the internal conflicts as well as factors of group belongings and the relation to the local authorities.

Active participation of immigrants in Spain.Country Report prepared for the European research project POLITIS, Oldenburg 2005

2005

Project information POLITIS is short for a research project with the full title: Building Europe with New Citizens? An Inquiry into the Civic Participation of Naturalised Citizens and Foreign Residents in 25 Countries. The European Commission funds the project that mainly seeks to improve our understanding of different factors that promote or inhibit active civic participation of immigrants. A unique project construction is developed that includes workshops with foreign-born students who are recruited as discussants and interviewers. National experts in all 25 EU countries have prepared country reports on the contextual conditions and state of research concerning civic participation of immigrants. These reports can be downloaded from www.uni-oldenburg.de/politis-europe Funding Acknowledgement This research project is funded by the European Commission in the sixth framework, priority 7, Citizens and governance in a knowledge based society. www.cordis.lu/citizens

To vote or not to vote? Migrant electoral (dis)engagement in an enlarged Europe

Migration Studies, 2021

External voting by nonresident citizens has become an important feature of contemporary democratic politics. However, compared to the average voter in domestic elections, we still know significantly less about migrants' motivations to vote or not. Whereas analyses of external voting patterns offer insights into the results of external voting compared to origin populations, there is a lacuna of knowledge about why migrants choose to vote, or not, when they have the right to do so. This article seeks to address this gap by building a framework rooted in both the electoral studies literature and on the growing body of knowledge on external voting within migration studies. We consider migrant voters' desire, mobilization, and ability to vote, and map the locus of all factors-either in the country of residence, country of origin, or within transnational political space. We explore evidence from 80 in-depth interviews, collected January-May 2020, with four groups of intra-European migrants-Romanian and Polish residing in Norway and Spain-to map the determinants of external voting. Our research generates three insights which challenge or nuance extant research on external voting. We show how migrants' motivations to vote depend not only on residence and origin contexts but also on subjective factors and perceptions of the legitimacy of external voting. This article complements existing macrolevel studies of voting determinants with an in-depth qualitative microperspective and generates hypotheses that can be further tested in large-n as well as cross-regional comparisons.

From participation to confinement: challenges for immigrants’ incorporation in political parties in Spain

Ethnic and Racial Studies, 2016

The question of the democratic participation of immigrants has been the object of an extensive, theoretical and empirical literature. Nevertheless, we still lack detailed information on those internal dynamics of political parties which shape patterns of participation and representation of immigrants and their descendants, especially in Spain. We focus on how immigrants incorporate political parties in Spain and how this mode of incorporation influences the opportunities for immigrants to access elite positions and candidacies. On the one hand we examine individual trajectories in accessing and evolving in parties and, on the other hand, party strategies to reach out and include immigrants. We acknowledge a persisting gap between the access and participation in political parties, which has been facilitated over recent years, and the many obstacles in accessing elite and candidate positions in Spain.

Migrant political engagement and voting from abroad: Insights from interviews with polish and romanian migrants in Barcelona and Oslo

45, 2021

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EP Elections as a Tool for Migrant Political Participation

Politeja, 2019

The paper focuses on the European Parliament (EP) elections seen as a tool for migrant political participation. When migrating for work, EU migrants do not always consider naturalization as an optimal arrangement, being satisfied with rights connected with their EU citizenship. Therefore, in terms of voting strategies , they often limit their voting rights to those connected with the institutions of their country of birth. However, the particular political context might create additional motivation for participation in EP elections. I would argue that such a particular situation did occur in the United Kingdom in May 2019, when many EU migrants decided to exercise their right to vote in EP elections. Furthermore, many of them were then denied this right, which has been attributed by some to the lack of efficiency on part of British institutions. The paper will look at the institution of the European Parliament elections, analyzing both the normative justification of the formal arrangements and the empirical dimension of 2019 EP Elections in the United Kingdom in the context of the ongoing processes of Brexit.