Migrant transnational political engagement1

Migrant transnational political engagement is a long-standing phenomenon linking polities and
policies in different locations. This chapter focuses on three main ongoing epistemological and methodological challenges related to how we frame and seek to understand migrant
transnational political engagement. First, what is transnational about migrant political
engagement and what forms of engagement are prevalent? This includes how to map a field of
migrant transnational engagement, which covers both transnational collective engagement and
electoral mobilization in homeland elections. Second, what are the main drivers of migrant
transnational engagement? Here one of the recent developments is the sending country
emigrant engagement strategies at the party-level as well as analysis drawing on political
opportunity structures which also encompass both the local/urban and global context for
transnational migrant politics. Third, what is the relationship between migrant transnational
political engagement and political change in the country of origin? This covers the more recent
focus on the role of social and political remittances in processes of democratic diffusion and democratization in countries of origin.