Migration and Democracy. How Remittances undermine Dictatorships

Ver en inglés

This book demonstrates how migration fosters democracy in the Global South. We advance a theory of democratic migration that focuses on the foreign monetary resources, namely worker remittances, that flow directly to the agents of democratic change in autocracies, namely citizens. Remittances are not only the largest source of foreign income in most autocratic countries; but, in contrast to revenue from natural resource exports, foreign aid, and even international investment, remittances flow directly to citizens, largely circumventing autocratic governments. Using both micro- and macro-evidence from around the world, this book shows that remittance income in recipient autocracies increases political opposition resources and decreases government-dependency, two mechanisms that undermine dictatorships and foster democracy.