Remittances and Democratization
Open accessAbstract
Do remittances stabilize autocracies? Remittances—money sent by foreign workers to individuals in their home country—differ from other sources of external non-tax revenue, such as foreign aid, because they accrue directly to individuals and thus raise the incomes of households. We argue that remittances increase the likelihood of democratic transition by undermining electoral support for autocratic incumbents in party-based regimes. Remittances therefore make voters less dependent on state transfers. As a result, autocracies that rely heavily on the broad-based distribution of spoils for their survival, namely party-based regimes, should prove especially vulnerable to increases in remittances. Evidence consistent with this argument suggests that remittances promote democratization in some dictatorships.
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External diasporic organizations have been shown, in some cases, to improve the quality of governance in home states.
“The interventions of external diasporic organizations have also been shown, in some cases, to improve the quality of governance in home states.”
From Non‐state authoritarianism and diaspora politics (2020) · cites this paper as Escribà-Folch et al. 2015
The Results and the ‘Remittances and Autocratic Regime Survival’ section (pages unavailable) link remittances to democratic transition in dominant-party regimes and describe ways migrant diasporas may support opposition groups. They do not show that interventions by diasporic organizations improved the quality of governance in home states; the paper’s measured outcome is democratic transition, not governance quality. (LLM, conf=0.82)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredDiasporic remittances can place pressure on authoritarian regimes by making populations less dependent on the state.
“Other studies suggest that diasporic remittances can place pressure on authoritarian regimes by making populations less dependent on the state (Escribà-Folch et al. 2015).”
From Non‐state authoritarianism and diaspora politics (2020) · cites this paper as Escribà-Folch et al. 2015
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Cites
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Bueno de Mesquita, B., Smith, A., Siverson, R. M., & Morrow, J. D. (2003) · doi:10.7551/mitpress/4292.001.0001 · Cited by 4,217 · cited 3× · see citing works
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“Further, studies that account for country-specific factors question the empirical link between oil and democratization (Haber and Menaldo 2011; Wright, Frantz and Geddes 2014).”
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Non‐state authoritarianism and diaspora politics
ADAMSON, F. B. (2020) · Global Networks · doi:10.1111/glob.12246 · Cited by 116 · see citing works
- Authors
- Escribà-Folch, A., Meseguer, C., & Wright, J.
- Affiliations
- Universitat Pompeu Fabra
- London School of Economics and Political Science (GB)
- Pennsylvania State University (US)
- Venue
- International Studies Quarterly
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 2015-01-05
- Volume
- 59
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 571-586
- ISSN
- 0020-8833 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W1997531421
- Cited by
- 169
- References
- 6
- Citations by year
- 2026: 7 · 2025: 18 · 2024: 9 · 2023: 12 · 2022: 10 · 2021: 23 · 2020: 5 · 2019: 38 · 2018: 29 · 2017: 6 · 2016: 10 · 2015: 2
- FWCI
- 51.96
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- International Studies Quarterly (publishedVersion)
- Repositori digital de la UPF (Universitat Pompeu Fabra) (submittedVersion)
- London School of Economics and Political Science Research Online (London School of Economics and Political Science) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- National Science Foundation (BCS-0904463)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Political Conflict and Governance
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Migration and Labor Dynamics
- Social Sciences › Economics, Econometrics and Finance › General Economics, Econometrics and Finance › Natural Resources and Economic Development
- Keywords
- remittances, democratization, authoritarian regimes, democratic transition, electoral support, state transfer, household income, dictatorship, foreign workers
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