Political and Civic Participation of Immigrants in Host Countries. An Interpretative Framework from the Perspective of the Origin Countries and Societies

Introduction. From Diaspora Politics to Host-society Politics: Strategies of Political Mobilization and Integration of South Asian Migrants

“…Their research deals mostly with immigrants' voting behaviors, but some of their studies also include less conventional forms of political participation, like involvement in social movements or civil society associations (e.g. Gabrielli, Gsir, and Zapata-Barrero 2017;Però and Solomos 2010;Morales and Giugni 2011).…”

“…As a result of this division into three separate fields of research, including in the case of South Asian migrants, scholars have largely ignored the connections between the various aspects of the migrants' political experience-such as, notably, the articulation between political mobilization towards the homeland and a broader participation of migrants in the political affairs of the host country. A few exceptions include the works of Østergaard-Nielsen (2003), Morales and Morariu (2011), Portes (1999;, Gabrielli (2017) and Zederman (2018).…”

Political Activism in Canada: When Tibetans in Toronto Enter into Local Politics

“…A more inclusive definition has been offered to take into consideration non-conventional forms of political participation, i.e. protests, demonstrations, sit-ins, political strikes, hunger strikes, civil disobedience and boycotts, which are sometimes referred to as civic participation (Gabrielli, Gsir, and Zapata-Barrero 2017). Conventional and non-conventional forms of political participation could thus serve as indicators of the political integration of migrants in the host country.…”

“…The distinction between host and home countries is all the more important here as the context should not be limited to the host country. Eva Østergaard-Nielsen (2003) argues that, for many migrants, the relevant political opportunity structure affecting mobilization is not necessarily limited to that found in the receiving context, but often comprises that of the sending context (see also Gabrielli et al 2017). Our focus may be on Canada, where the Tibetans' political integration takes place, but an analysis of the Tibetans' agency would be incomplete if the role of the Tibetan government-in-exile based in Dharamsala (India) was not also taken into account.…”

“…This enables us to pursue some of the theoretical discussions about the migrant's dual loyalties. It has been acknowledged both that the home country has an impact on the migrant's political integration in the host country (Gabrielli et al 2017;Østergaard-Nielsen 2003) and that the home country's impact can be positive (Morales and Morariu 2011;Portes et al 2008). The example of Bhutila Karpoche further shows that such an impact can occur at every stage, even at the very end stage of the migrant's political integration process, while remaining positive throughout.…”