Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-fbnjt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-12T19:56:22.706Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Sparrows of Despair: Migration as a Signalling Device for Dysfunctional States in Europe

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 December 2016

Jonathon W. Moses
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This article considers the utility of emigration figures for signalling political dysfunction in Europe. If given a choice, most people would prefer not to leave friends, family and homes in order to find work. By assuming that international migration is more of a burden than a freedom, international migration patterns can help us distinguish between politically successful and politically dysfunctional states. This approach is first applied to international refugees and migrants to the EU, then used to study internal EU migrant flows. In doing this, it creates two sets of rankings (in overall and per capita terms) for Europe’s most and least successful states. Included among the most dysfunctional states in Europe are Romania, Lithuania, Ireland, Croatia and Latvia. It would seem as though policymakers in these states are unable to satisfy their constituents’ needs.

Keywords

EUmigrationexitdemocratic deficit
Type
Articles
Information
Government and Opposition , Volume 52 , Special Issue 2: Democracy without Solidarity: Political Dysfunction in Hard Times , April 2017 , pp. 295 - 328
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s). Published by Government and Opposition Limited and Cambridge University Press 2016 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abrams, S.J. and Fiorina, M.P. (2012), ‘“The Big Sort” That Wasn’t: A Skeptical Reexamination’, PS, April: 203–210.Google Scholar
Arrighi, J.-T., Bauböck, R., Collyer, M., Hutcheson, D., Khadar, L., Moraru, M. and Shaw, J. (2014), Franchise and Electoral Participation of Third Country Citizens Residing in EU and of EU Citizens Residing in Third Countries (Brussels: European Parliament), www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/etudes/join/2013/474441/IPOL-AFCO_ET%282013%29474441_EN.pdf.Google Scholar
Bellamy, R. and Kröger, S. (2014), ‘Domesticating the Democratic Deficit? The Role of National Parliaments and Parties in the EU’s System of Governance’, Parliamentary Affairs, 67(2): 437–457.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bishop, B. (2009), The Big Sort: Why the Clustering of Like-minded America is Tearing us Apart (New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt).Google Scholar
Burean, T. (2011), ‘Political Participation by the Romanian Diaspora’, in P.E. Sum and R.F. King (eds), Romania under Băsescu: Aspirations, Achievements, and Frustrations during his First Presidential Term (Lanham, MD: Lexington Books): 83–105.Google Scholar
Burean, T. and Popp, R. (2015), ‘Migrant Political Participation and Voting Behavior in Romania’, paper presented to the 2015 APSA meetings in San Francisco, CA, September.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
De Haas, H. (2014), ‘Migration Theory: Quo Vadis’, International Migration Institute Working Paper 100 (November) Oxford University.Google Scholar
Delwit, P. (2013), ‘The End of Voters in Europe? Electoral Turnout in Europe since WWII’, Open Journal of Political Science, 3(1): 44–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Economist, The (2014), ‘Romania’s Election: Transylvanian Surprise’, 17 November, www.economist.com/node/21633261.Google Scholar
Engbersen, G., Leerkes, A., Grabowska-Lusinska, I., Snel, E. and Burgers, J. (2013), ‘On the Differential Attachments of Migrants from Central and Eastern Europe: A Typology of Labour Migration’, Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 39(6): 959–981.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eurobarometer (2012), ‘Public Opinion in the European Union’, tables of results, fieldwork, Standard Eurobarometer, 77, May.Google Scholar
Eurobarometer (2014), ‘Public Opinion in the European Union’, first results, Standard Eurobarometer, 81, Spring, http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/archives/eb/eb81/eb81_first_en.pdf.Google Scholar
Eurostat (2015), ‘Migration and Migrant Population Statistics’, Statistics Explained, 4 December, http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/.Google Scholar
Fischel, W.A. (2006) (ed.), The Tiebout Model at Fifty (Cambridge, MA: Lincoln Institute of Land Policy).Google Scholar
Follesdal, A. and Hix, S. (2006), ‘Why There is a Democratic Deficit in the EU: A Response to Majone and Moravcsik’, Journal of Common Market Studies, 44(3): 533–562.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gattermann, K., Högenauer, A.-L. and Huff, A. (2016), ‘Research Note: Studying a New Phase of Europeanisation of National Parliaments’, European Political Science, 15(1): 89–107.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hirschman, A. (1970), Exit, Voice and Loyalty (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press).Google Scholar
Hirschman, A. (1993), ‘Exit, Voice, and the Fate of the German Democratic Republic: An Essay in Conceptual History’, World Politics, 45(January): 173–202.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hix, S. (2008), What’s Wrong with the European Union and How to Fix it (Cambridge: Polity).Google Scholar
IMI (International Migration Institute) (n.d.), ‘Determinants of International Migration’, www.imi.ox.ac.uk/completed-projects/demig.Google Scholar
Jones, E. and Matthijs, M. (2017), ‘Democracy without Solidarity: Political Dysfunction in Hard Times – Introduction to Special Issue’, Government and Opposition: An International Journal of Comparative Politics (in this issue), doi: 10.1017/gov.2016.47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lax, J.R. and Phillips, J.H. (2012), ‘The Democratic Deficit in the States’, American Journal of Political Science, 56(1): 148–166.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lindberg, L. and Scheingold, S. (1970), Europe’s Would Be Polity: Patterns of Change in the European Community (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall).Google Scholar
Massey, D.S., Arango, J., Hugo, G., Kouaouci, A., Pellegrino, A. and Taylor, J.E. (1993), ‘Theories of International Migration: A Review and Appraisal’, Population and Development Review, 19(3): 431–466.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moravcsik, A. (2002), ‘In Defense of the “Democratic Deficit”: Reassessing the Legitimacy of the European Union’, Journal of Common Market Studies, 40: 603–624.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moravcsik, A. (2008), ‘The Myth of Europe’s Democratic Deficit’, Intereconomics, 43(6): 331–340.Google Scholar
Moses, J.W. (2005), ‘Exit, Vote and Sovereignty: Migration, States and Globalization’, Review of International Political Economy, 12(1): 53–77.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moses, J.W. (2006), International Migration: Globalization’s Last Frontier (London: Zed).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moses, J.W. (2009), ‘The American Century? Migration and the Voluntary Social Contract’, Politics and Society, 37(3): 454–476.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moses, J.W. (2011), Emigration and Political Development (New York: Cambridge University Press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moses, J.W. (2015), ‘Global Markets’, in K.E. Jørgensen, Å.K. Aarstad, E. Drieskens, K. Laatikainen and B. Tonra (eds), Sage Handbook of European Foreign Policy, Volume 2 (Los Angeles: Sage): 998–1012.Google Scholar
Moses, J.W. (2016), ‘Free Sailing or Tied to the Mast? The Political Costs of Monetary Adjustment in Iceland, Latvia, and Ireland’, in J. Caporaso and M. Rhodes (eds), The Political and Economic Dynamics of the Eurozone Crisis (New York: Oxford University Press): 233–257.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Norris, P. (2011), Democratic Deficit: Critical Citizens Revisited (New York: Cambridge University Press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Oates, W. (2006), ‘The Many Faces of the Tiebout Model’, in W.A. Fischel (ed.), The Tiebout Model at Fifty (Cambridge, MA: Lincoln Institute of Land Policy): 21–45.Google Scholar
Piore, M. (1979), Birds of Passage: Migrant Labor and Industrial Societies (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pitkin, H. (1965), ‘Obligation and Consent – I’, American Political Science Review, 59(4): 990–999.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ravenstein, E.G. (1885), ‘The Laws of Migration’, Journal of the Statistical Society of London, 48(2): 167–235.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Recchi, E. (2015), Mobile Europe: The Theory and Practice of Free Movement in the EU (Houndmills: Palgrave Macmillan).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reichel, D. (2011), ‘Do Legal Regulations Hinder Naturalisation? Citizenship and Naturalisation Rates in Europe’, Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies, Working Paper 51, Eudo Citizenship Observatory, Fiesole, European University Institute.Google Scholar
Scharpf, F.W. (1999), Governing in Europe. Effective and Democratic? (Oxford: Oxford University Press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schmitter, P.C. (2003), ‘Democracy in Europe and Europe’s Democratization’, Journal of Democracy, 14: 71–85.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Siedentop, L. (2001), Democracy in Europe (Oxford: Oxford University Press).Google Scholar
Tiebout, C. (1956), ‘A Pure Theory of Local Expenditures’, Journal of Political Economy, 64(5): 416–424.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Your Europe (2014), ‘Elections Abroad’, 21 May, http://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/residence/elections-abroad/index_en.htm.Google Scholar