Diaspora Contributions to Democratic Processes at Home: The External Vote of Andean Migrants

This paper focuses on the external vote and wider transnational political participation of Andean migrants from Colombia and Bolivia. Its main aim is to discuss the contributions of these diasporas to democratic and wider political processes in the home countries. The two cases considered offer a good opportunity to do so, since in the last few decades they have put forward new mechanisms for the political inclusion of their nationals abroad, but in different historical, socioeconomic and political contexts. Key amongst these initiatives has been the extension of voting rights to nationals abroad. One of the objectives is thus to compare the different reasons and mechanisms used by states to implement external voting policies, as well as migrant participation in elections.
Migrants from the three countries have participated to a lesser or greater degree in the development of such policies and the practice of voting from abroad. A comparison of their participation rates in each case and the reasons for voting or not might allow us to find out more about the success or failure of such processes. Equally, different governments, parties and other state and political institutions in the home countries have related differently to the diasporas, often based on the supposed political allegiances or ideological inclinations of these groups. Based on all this, the two national communities abroad studied have played different roles in key recent political processes in their home countries, such as the emergence of an ethno- nationalist-left government in Bolivia, and efforts for greater democracy and the end of the armed conflict in Colombia.
This paper is based on quantitative and qualitative data, as well as secondary information, obtained by the authors through different research projects carried out over the last few years with migrants from the two countries studied. The text looks next at the theoretical framework for the research, before analysing in detail the two cases considered. The last develops a comparative discussion and presents concluding perspectives.