Migrant Cross-Border Participation, Collective Remittances and Local Democratic Governance in Mexico

• In Event: 242 - Section on International Migration Roundtable Session (one-hour).
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 20. Migration and Development

Abstract

The migrant transnationalism literature studies the ways in which some migrants participate in the affairs of their places of origin, despite often assimilating into the host country of residence. While this literature extends our knowledge of myriad migrant practices across borders, research has largely obscured the distinctive political traits of this global phenomenon. This paper examines the ways in which migrant hometown associations use collective remittances and work with their sending state government to provide public goods and services in their communities of origin. It offers an analytic framework to understand the conditions under which transnational public-private partnerships positively and negatively affect local democracy in the sending country. Findings from comparative analysis of five transnational partnerships across Mexican municipalities show that both the migrant’s social network and the local political climate structure the ability of these partnerships to positively affect local governance. When these partnerships include the citizenry in recipient communities, state and non-state actors become embedded in a form of participatory governance creating new mechanisms of social accountability. However, when community inclusiveness is limited or absent these transnational partnerships are often susceptible to sending-state coercion, cooptation and social sanction from community elites leading to poor outcomes for local democracy.

Author

• Lauren Duquette-Rury, University of California-Los Angeles