This article analyzes the emergence and the institutional structure of contemporary immigrants’ transnational politics. It poses three questions: 1) How is transnational politics structured? 2) How can we explain the current emergence of transnational political linkages? 3) Who participates and who benefits from political transnationalism. The article focuses on the cases of the Dominican Republic, Haiti and El Salvador and argues that they share an institutional pattern of transnational politics in which there are three main actors: the state apparatus of the country of origin; the political parties of the country of origin; and migrant organizations in the country of reception. The article links the rise of this pattern of transnational politics to the need of the states of origin to guarantee the flow of remittances, the organization of immigrants in the country of reception, and the consolidation of competitive politics in democratic regimes. Although the analysis is based on the experiences of Latin American and Caribbean countries and their emigrants in the United States, the article argues that this institutional pattern may transcend this particular region.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AgnewJ.1999“Mapping Political Power beyond State Boundaries: Territory, Identity, and Movement in World Politics”Millennium: Journal of International Studies, 28(3):499–521.
2.
AndersonB.1998“Long-Distance Nationalism.” In The Spectre of Comparisons. Nationalism, Southeast Asia and the World. Ed. AndersonB. Pp. 58–74.
3.
BaschL. G., SchillerN. Glick and Blanc-SzantonC.1994Nations Abound: Transnational Projects, Post-colonial Predicaments, and De-territorialized Nation-States.Langhorne, PA: Gordon and Breach.
4.
BrockL.1999“Observing Change, ‘Rewriting’ History: A Critical Overview,”Millennium: Journal of International Studies, 28(3):483–497.
5.
BryskA.1996“Turning Weakness into Strength: The Internationalization of Indian Rights,”Latin American Perspectives, 23(2).
6.
Calderon CheliusL.1999“Ciudadanos Inconformes. Nuevas Formas de Representacion Política en el Marco de la Experiencia Migratoria: El Caso de los Migrantes Mexicanos,”Frontera Norte, 11(21):117–146.
7.
Calderon CheliusL.1998“El ABC del Voto en el Exterior,”L'Ordinaire Latino-Americain, 173–174:144–152.
8.
CicekliB.1999“The Rights of Turkish Migrants in Europe under International Law and EU Law,”International Migration Review, 33(2):300–353.
9.
CoutinS. B.1998“From Refugees to Immigrants: The Legalization Strategies of Salvadoran Immigrants and Activists,”International Migration Review, 32(4):901–925.
10.
EvansP.2000“Fighting Marginalization with Transnational Networks: Counter-Hegemonic Globalization,”Contemporary Sociology, 29(1):230–241.
11.
FonerN.1997“What's New about Transnationalism? New York Immigrants Today and at the Turn of the Century,”Diaspora, 6:355–375.
12.
Click SchillerN., BaschL. and Blanc-SzantonC.1992“Transnationalism: A New Analytic Framework for Understanding Migration,”Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 645:1–24.
13.
Glick SchillerN. and FouronG.1999“Terrains of Blood and Nation: Haitian Transnational Social Fields,”Ethnic and Racial Studies6:340–366.
14.
Glick SchillerN. and FouronG.1998“Transnational Lives and National Identities: The Identity Politics of Haitian Immigrants,”Comparative Urban and Community Research, 130–161.
15.
GoldringL.1998“The Power of Status in Transnational Social Fields,”Comparative Urban and Community Research, 6:165–195.
16.
GrahamP.1997“Reimagining the Nation and Defining the District: Dominican Migration and Transnational Politics.” In Caribbean Circuits: New Directions in the Study of Caribbean Migration. Ed. PessarE.Staten Island, NY: Center for Migration Studies. Pp. 91–126.
17.
GuarnizoL. E.1998“The Rise of Transnational Social Formations: Mexican and Dominican State Responses to Transnational Migration,”Political Power and Social Theory, 12:45–94.
18.
GuarnizoL. E.1997“The Emergence of a Transnational Social Formation and the Mirage of Return Migration among Dominican Transmigrants,”Identities, 4(2):281–322.
19.
GuarnizoL. E. and SmithM. P.1998“The Locations of Transnationalism,”Comparative Urban and Community Research, 6:3–34.
20.
GuarnizoL. E., SanchezA. I. and RoachE. M.1999“Mistrust, Fragmented Solidarity and Transnational Migration: Colombians in New York City and Los Angeles,”Ethnic and Racial Studies, 22:367–396.
21.
HartlynJ.1998The Struggle for Democratic Politics in the Dominican Republic.Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press.
22.
HirschmanA.1970Exit, Voice, and Loyalty.Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
23.
ItzigsohnJ.1995“Migrant Remittances, Labor Markets, and Household Strategies: A Comparative Analysis of Low-Income Household Strategies in the Caribbean Basin,”Social Forces, 74(2):633–657.
24.
ItzigsohnJ., CabraiC. D., MedinaE. H. and VazquezO.1999“Mapping Dominican Transnationalism: Narrow and Broad Transnational Practices,”Ethnic and Racial Studies, 22:316–339.
25.
JacobsonD.1996Rights Across Borders: Immigration and the Decline of Citizenship. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.KarpathakisA.1999“Home Society Politics and Immigrant Political Incorporation: The Case of Greek Immigrants in New York City,”International Migration Review33(1):55–78.
26.
KeckM. and SikkinkK.1998Activists Beyond Borders: Advocacy Networks in International Politics.Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
27.
KyleD.1999“The Otavalo Trade Diaspora: Social Capital and Transnational Entrepreneurship, Ethnic and Racial Studies, 22:422–446.
28.
LaguerreM. S.1999“State, Diaspora, and Transnational Politics: Haiti Reconceptualized,”Millennium: Journal of International Studies, 28(3):633–651.
29.
LaguerreM. S.1998Diasporic Citizenship: Haitian Americans in Transnational America. “New York: St. Martin's Press.
30.
LandoltP.2000“Exploring the Spaces of Political Transnationalism: Insights from Salvadoran Transnational Migration.” Paper presented at the Latin American Studies Association conference, Miami, March.
31.
LandoltP., AutlerL. and BairesS.1999“From Hermano Lejano to Hermano Mayor: the Dialectics of Salvadoran Transnationalism,”Ethnic and Racial Studies, 22:290–315.
32.
LevittP.1998“Social Remittances: Migration-Driven, Local-Level Forms of Cultural Diffusion,”International Migration Review, 32(4):926–948.
33.
LevittP.1997“Transnationalizing Community Development: The Case of Migration Between Boston and the Dominican Republic,”Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 26(4):509–526.
34.
MahlerS.1998“Theoretical and Empirical Contributions toward a Research Agenda for Transnationalism,”Comparative Urban and Community Research, 6:64–102.
35.
MahlerS.1995American Dreamin: Immigrant Life on the Margin, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
36.
MandavilleP. G.1999“Territory and Translocality: Discrepant Idioms of Political Identity,”Millennium: Journal of International Studies, 28(3):653–673.
37.
PessarP. R.1995A Visa for a Dream: Dominicans in the United States.Needham Heights, MA: Allyn and Bacon.
38.
PopkinE.1999“Guatemalan Mayan Migration to Los Angeles: Constructing Transnational Linkages in the Context of the Settlement Process,”Ethnic and Racial Studies, 22:267–289.
39.
PortesA.1996“Transnational Communities: Their Emergence and Significance in the Contemporary World System.” In Latin America in the World Economy. Ed. KorzeniewiczR. P. and SmithW. C.Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. Pp. 151–168.
40.
PortesA., CabraiC. Dore and LandoltP., eds. 1997The Urban Caribbean: Transition to the New Global Economy.Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University.
41.
PortesA., GuarnizoL. E. and LandoltP.1999“Introduction: Pitfalls and Promise of an Emergent Research Field,”Ethnic and Racial Studies, 6:217–237.
42.
RepakT.1995Waiting on Washington: Central American Workers in the Nation's Capital, Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press.
43.
RobertsB., FrankR. and Lozano-AscencioF.1999“Transnational Migrant Communities and Mexican Migration,”Ethnic and Racial Studies, 22:238–266.
44.
RobinsonW. I.1998“Beyond Nation-State Paradigms: Globalization, Sociology, and the Challenge of Transnational Studies,”Sociological Forum, 13(4):561–594.
45.
SmithR. C.1998“Transnational Localities: Community, Technology, and the Politics of Membership within the Context of Mexico and U.S. Migration,”Contemporary Urban and Community Research, 6:196–238.
46.
SoysalY. N.1994Limits of Citizenship: Migrants and Postnational Membership in Europe.Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
47.
Van CottD. L., ed. 1994Indigenous Peoples and Democracy in Latin America.New York: St. Martin's Press.
48.
VertovecS.1999“Conceiving and Researching Transnationalism,”Ethnic and Racial Studies, 22:347–462. World Bank 1998World Development Indicators.Washington, DC: CD-ROM.
49.
YasharD. J.1998“Democracy, Indigenous Movements, and the Postliberal Challenge in Latin America,”Comparative Politics, 31:23–42.
