Skip to main content
Go to the home page of the European Commission (opens in new window)
English en
CORDIS - EU research results
CORDIS

Transnationalizing Parliaments? Investigating the Voting Power of Europe's Arab Diasporas

Project description

Arab diaspora voting effect in their countries of origin

Arab diasporas are influential in the politics of their home countries. Although Europe’s Arab diasporas have received limited attention, they possess the capacity to sway parliamentary outcomes in their countries of origin. With the support of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the VoPAD project explores the impact of diasporic voting on Arab parliaments, with a focus on Algeria, Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco, Syria, and Tunisia. Its goal is to investigate the potential of Europe's Arab diasporas to advance democracy following the Arab Spring. VoPAD, examines the design and procedures of diasporic voting, their institutional integration, and identifies the voting preferences of Europe-based diasporas, while also exploring whether their place of residence influences their voting decisions.

Objective

As some Arab states are moving towards more open political processes, diasporas have become an increasingly important electoral factor. They contribute to political discourse, and possess the capacity to inject ideas, norms and expectations informed by their host societies into the political sphere of their country of origin. In the European context, these phenomena have been elaborately discussed with respect to the Turkish diaspora among others. However, due to its relative novelty and much greater complexity, Europe’s Arab diasporas, and their ability to influence parliamentary outcomes in their states of origin has comparatively been understudied. VoPAD will fill gaps in current research by examining the influence of diasporic voting on Arab parliaments with a specific focus on the diaspora hailing from Algeria, Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco, Syria and Tunisia. This will provide new insight into Europe’s Arab diasporas’ role in the post-Arab Spring parliamentary development – and importantly, shed new light on the potential and limitations for transnational forces from Europe - in the
form of external voting - to influence parliaments and parliamentary activity in Arab states.
As a case- and country-based, comparative investigation, VoPAD is organised around three, interrelated objectives:
(1) Mapping the design, procedures and institutional integration of diasporic voting, and how these influence parliamentary composition, and subsequent outcomes;
(2) Identifying the voting preferences of the Europe-based diasporas, and whether residence (or citizenship) in Europe influences voting decisions;
and (3) Investigating the competition over diasporas and their political engagement – i.e. how home-countries’ try to solicit support from diaspora communities abroad, and the response this solicits in the public sphere of their countries of residence.

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

This project has not yet been classified with EuroSciVoc.
Be the first one to suggest relevant scientific fields and help us improve our classification service

Keywords

Programme(s)

Topic(s)

Funding Scheme

HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships

See all projects funded under this funding scheme

Call for proposal

(opens in new window) HORIZON-MSCA-2023-PF-01

See all projects funded under this call

Coordinator

KOBENHAVNS UNIVERSITET
Net EU contribution
€ 230 774,40
Address
NORREGADE 10
1165 KOBENHAVN
Denmark
Region
Danmark Hovedstaden Byen København
Activity type
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
Links
Total cost
No data