The Effect of Travel Freedom on Democracy

• In Event: International Influences on Democratization

Abstract

Over the past decade, travel freedom has expanded precipitously thanks to the rising number of bilateral visa-waiver agreements and unilateral decisions by governments. For example, in 2006, a citizen, on average, could travel to 58 destinations without needing a visa from the host nation; by 2018, this number had nearly doubled to 107. While this development has certainly paid economic dividends related to booming tourism, did it also have political benefits? More specifically, what has been the effect of increasing border openness on democracy? The literature on democratic diffusion would suggest that expanding cross-border interactions should be correlated with democratization. Yet we have no systematic empirical evidence about the effect of the visa-waiver programs on democracy. We aim to fill this gap. Using a novel dataset that records the number of visa-free destinations for each country and territory from 2006 to 2018, our study offers the first cross-national analysis of this relationship. We find that the number of visa-free destinations held by a sender country has a positive and statistically significant, albeit non-linear, effect on that country’s democracy score. The results seem robust to alternative model specifications that correct for reverse causality. The findings suggest not only that visa-free travel can have non-tourism-related benefits, but also that democratization can indeed have an important international dimension.

Authors

• Ugur Altundal, Syracuse University

• Omer Zarpli, University of Pittsburgh