Paper short abstract:

Co-authors: DEDIEU, Jean-Philippe Iris/ EHESS CHAUVET, Lisa, IRD, UMR DIAL University Paris Dauphine – IRD GUBERT, Flore, IRD, UMR DIAL University Paris Dauphine – IRD, Paris School of Economics MESPLÉ-SOMPS, Sandrine, IRD, UMR DIAL University Paris Dauphine – IRD SMITH, Etienne, IAS Columbia University

Paper long abstract:

Work on how migrants relate to politics has shed light on an uncharted continent of political practices. In a reflection of the prominence of the assimilationist model in migration studies, this work has long focused solely on migrants' political integration in the host society. The spread of the transnational concept in the social sciences has reshaped this approach. Migration studies researchers have spearheaded research into the participation of emigrants in the politics of both their host and home countries. Yet research into migrants' transnational electoral behaviour remains very thin. The scarcity of studies on migrants' voting practices in their home country is paradoxical since most origin countries have granted nationals living abroad dual citizenship in recent years.

The Senegalese case study presented in our paper is the first statistical analysis of African transnational electoral processes. This analysis draws on a quantitative survey in France and the United States during the 2012 Senegalese presidential election. The paper opens with a presentation of migrant electoral participation, goes on to examine voters' social characteristics and closes with an analysis of "social remittances" between host and home country (voter registration, electoral mobilisation and voting instructions).